Russia-Linked Oil Tanker Stopped by France Resumes Voyage
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A tanker from Russia's "shadow fleet" detained by the French navy has resumed its journey towards the Suez Canal, data from maritime websites Marine Traffic and Vesselfinder showed Friday.
The Boracay, a vessel claiming to be flagged in Benin and blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia's sanction-busting "shadow fleet", resumed its journey Thursday evening and was off the coast of western France on Friday morning, according to the vessel tracking websites.
A source close to the case said the ship's Chinese captain, who was previously set to be tried by a French court for crew’s alleged refusal to cooperate, was also back aboard the Russia-linked tanker, France 24 reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron had alleged that the tanker belongs to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers of uncertain ownership that are avoiding Western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, and he didn't rule out that it could have been involved in drone flights over Denmark as it was sailing last week off the coast of the Nordic country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the tanker's detention as an act of piracy and alleged that Macron had initiated the move for domestic policy reasons.
“There is no other way to deflect attention of the population, citizens of France, from difficult internal problems that are hard to solve,” Putin said at a forum of foreign policy experts in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Asked about whether the tanker could be linked to drone flights, Macron said that “I’m very cautious because our services and our justice are still working... I don’t exclude it at all, but I cannot here attribute very clearly and establish a clear link between these two phenomenon.”
Putin emphasized that “there was no reason whatsoever for seizing the tanker in neutral waters”, adding that “there wasn't and couldn't be” any military cargo or drones. He also warned that such action could provoke confrontation.
“It's piracy, and how do you deal with pirates?” Putin said. “You destroy them. It doesn't mean that tomorrow a war will erupt all across the global ocean, but certainly the risk of confrontation will seriously increase.”
