uk helps france seize 'russian oil tanker' in commando-style raid

The Grinch,suspected of flying a false flag,is being escorted to a port for further checks (Picture: French Forces)

British intelligence has seen France capture an oil tanker in a mission targeting Russia’s shadow fleet.

French maritime authorities said the vessel,named the Grinch,was snatched in the Mediterranean.

The ship,is being escorted to a port for further checks,the statement said.

The Grinch is thought to have been taking oil from the Russian port of Murmansk.

It was flying the flag of Comoros,the International Maritime Organisation said.

Crews will sometimes fly a nation’s flag without its permission to evade sanctions,inspections or other jurisdictions.

The UK government and European allies say Russia is using oil revenue to fund its illegal war in Ukraine.

Moscow operates its shadow fleet – a network of vessels with obscure ownership structures – to dodge sanctions on its exports.

‘We are determined to uphold international law and to ensure the effective enforcement of sanctions,’ French President Emmanuel Macron said following the latest capture.

‘The activities of the shadow fleet contribute to financing the war of aggression against Ukraine.’

Last September,France’s navy boarded another oil tanker off the French Atlantic coast that Macron said was linked to Russia.

That tanker had traveled from the Russian oil terminal in Primorsk near Saint Petersburg.

The ships was known to have numerous names – like ‘Pushpa’ or ‘Boracay’ – and flew beneath a Benin flag.

Putin denounced that interception as piracy and said that Macron was deflecting attention away from French domestic problems.

The tanker’s captain will go on trial in February over the crew’s alleged refusal to cooperate,according to French judicial authorities.