(Reuters) -French military personnel have boarded the oil tanker Boracay, which is suspected of belonging to the so-called shadow fleet involved in the Russian oil trade, French media reported on Wednesday.
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.
AFP reported that reporters flying past the ship could see soldiers dressed in fatigues and wearing balaclavas patrolling the ship’s deck on Wednesday afternoon.
French TV news channel BFM showed images of the Boracay with what it said were masked soldiers in uniform on the bridge.
Both AFP and BFM quoted sources saying that the soldiers have been on board since Saturday.
The French navy, the coast guard and other maritime authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it had no information about the vessel, but added that the Russian military had to act sometimes to restore order when foreign countries had taken what spokesman Dmitry Peskov described as “provocative actions.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday it was “a good thing” that France was investigating a suspected infraction on the ship. Speaking in Denmark at a summit of European Union leaders, he 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 shows 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 toward the French coast.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Alessandro Parodi and Geert De Clercq in Paris; Writing by Makini Brice and Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Matthew Lewis)
