France says it has seized an oil tanker in the Mediterranean suspected of being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the tanker, named the Grinch, was “subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag”.
The French navy, with the assistance of allies including the UK, boarded the vessel on Thursday morning between Spain and Morocco. French maritime authorities said that a search of the vessel had “confirmed the doubts as to the regularity of the flag”.
Russia’s embassy in Paris said it had not been informed of the seizure.
The rules-based order is dead, and there is no world police. Countries just take what they think they can get away with. Otherwise, there would be aid flowing into Palestine, Venezuela wouldn’t have been attacked by the US, and everyone wouldn’t be fighting over Greenland.