(Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday it was “a good thing” that France was investigating a suspected infraction by the oil tanker Boracay, which is suspected of belonging to the so-called “shadow fleet” involved in the Russian oil trade.
French authorities have been tight-lipped about the vessel, which is currently at anchor near the western city of Saint Nazaire. The Brest prosecutor said on Tuesday that a probe had been opened after the crew failed to provide proof of the vessel’s nationality and failed to comply with orders, but gave no further details.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it had no information about the vessel, but added the Russian military had to act sometimes to restore order when foreign countries had taken what spokesman Dmitry Peskov described as “provocative actions.”
Macron, speaking in Denmark at a summit of European Union leaders, said the collective assessment was that Russia’s “shadow fleet” contains 600 to 1,000 ships.
Shadow fleet tankers typically have opaque ownership and insurance and are often more than 20 years old.
The Boracay is listed under British and European Union sanctions against Russia. It was detained by Estonian authorities earlier this year for sailing without a valid country flag.
It left the Russian port of Primorsk on September 20, according to MarineTraffic data. It sailed through the Baltic Sea and over the top of Denmark before entering the North Sea and transiting west through the Channel.
Ship tracking data show that the 2007-built tanker was being shadowed by a French warship after it rounded France’s northwestern tip, before altering course and heading east towards the French coast.
France’s Navy, the Brest prosecutor and other maritime authorities did not respond to questions on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Alessandro Parodi; Writing by Makini Brice and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout)
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