France’s navy seized another tanker it said was linked to Russia’s “shadow fleet” on Thursday, underscoring the escalation this year in European efforts to enforce sanctions and squeeze one of Moscow’s main revenue streams.
Nine suspected shadow fleet tankers, vessels shipping oil and gas to skirt Western sanctions, have now been seized across Europe since the start of 2026, including four by France. Britain seized an oil tanker in the English Channel on June 14.
Another three suspected shadow fleet tankers have been inspected as part of a European naval mission in the Mediterranean, a Western military source said.
“We will not let the shadow fleet circumvent sanctions and finance the Russian war effort,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on social media after announcing the seizure of the Deliver, adding: “Europe is determined.”
The tanker left Primorsk, one of Russia’s main oil export terminals, and was intercepted near Sicily as it headed towards the Suez Canal en route to Singapore.
The Russian embassy in France called the seizure “another case of piracy” and “illegal and unacceptable from the point of view of international law,” the TASS news agency reported.
According to preliminary information, there are no Russian citizens among the crew members, the embassy said.
European Union countries are negotiating a 21st package of sanctions against Russia. But Moscow has adapted to most measures and continues to sell millions of barrels of oil to countries such as India and China, usually at discounted prices.
Much is carried by what is known as a shadow fleet operating outside the Western maritime industry.
The military source said the Deliver was operating under a Cameroonian flag, despite having been formally struck off Cameroon’s registry weeks earlier, meaning it was navigating without nationality and breaching international maritime law.
This enabled France to board and detain it, the source said.
Cameroonian authorities have warned about the increasing misuse of the African country’s flag by sanctioned vessels and ships linked to Russia’s shadow fleet, which often uses aging tankers through opaque ownership structures to evade oversight.
Since the start of the year, European countries have stepped up detentions and inspections across critical maritime routes, including the Baltic Sea, the English Channel and the Mediterranean, all key for Russian oil exports to Asian markets.
(Reporting by John Irish, editing by William Maclean)
Photograph: In this photo, provided by the French Army on Thursday, Jan 22, 2026, France’s Navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said. (Etat-Major des Armees via AP)
