Thursday, October 2nd saw French president Emmanuel Macron call on Europe to take coordinated action against Russia’s so-called shadow fleet and follow his country’s lead in strengthening Western sanctions.
France is currently investigating a Benin-flagged ship that is among hundreds of ageing tankers blacklisted by the European Union for aiding Moscow in its circumvention of the oil export curbs imposed since the war with Ukraine began in 2022.
Macron told an EU leaders’ gathering in Denmark
It is extremely important to increase the pressure on this shadow fleet, because it will clearly reduce the capacity to finance this war effort.
The French leader suggested that European countries belonging to the pro-Kyiv so-called coalition of the willing coordinate with NATO to optimize appropriate “common action.” The president aims to increase France’s sanctions against Russia and is trying to encourage Europe to do the same, despite the fact that Ukraine is not a member of the EU or NATO.
French authorities have also detained two senior crew members of the Boracay, which is positioned off France’s western coast, and accused the crew of “failure to justify the nationality of the vessel” and “refusal to cooperate.” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu praised the French Navy for the arrest:
Thanks to our Navy commandos and to the crews of the French Navy who intervened this weekend on board a Russian shadow fleet tanker, currently anchored off Saint-Nazaire.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had no knowledge of the vessel.
Macron said that besides ensuring vessels complied with international rules, such detentions were “very important” to up pressure on Moscow, sap its war chest, and force it to the negotiating table.
