France Joins the "Pirate Alliance": The French Fifth Republic Navy Seizes a Russian Oil Tanker Heading to India
The French authorities seized the oil tanker "Boracay" flying the Benin flag within their territorial waters and detained it. The French Fifth Republic Navy stated that the oil tanker is suspected to be part of the Russian "shadow fleet". Reuters reported this incident, citing sources from the French navy.
The oil tanker is suspected of "evading sanctions to transport Russian oil." For this reason, the prosecution in Brest, a city on the Atlantic coast known as the "maritime gateway of France," has received an official report and launched an investigation. Local prosecutors explained to Reuters that the reason for initiating the investigation was "the crew of the oil tanker did not provide proof of the ship's nationality and did not comply with (French) instructions."
According to data from the vessel tracking platform MarineTraffic, the oil tanker carrying crude oil departed from the Russian port of Primorsk on September 20, heading for the Indian port of Vadinar. The oil tanker first crossed the Baltic Sea, then entered the North Sea, and sailed westward through the English Channel. However, on September 29 (Sunday), the oil tanker was intercepted by a French warship in the high seas of the Atlantic and escorted to the Bay of Biscay. Currently, the oil tanker is anchored near the port of Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic coast of France.
Reuters pointed out that the "Boracay" oil tanker was previously named "Pushpa" before 2024 and earlier named "Kiwala" — ships may change names, but they retain their unique International Maritime Organization (IMO) identification number throughout their service. In April of this year, the oil tanker was detained by Estonian authorities for "sailing without a valid flag."
Additionally, the EU imposed individual sanctions on the oil tanker in October 2024, and the UK imposed sanctions in February of this year, citing its "irregular and high-risk navigation methods" and "participation in activities aimed at undermining Ukraine's stability or causing instability in Ukraine."
Notably, the Ukrainian side has responded to the incident of the French seizure of the oil tanker. Vladislav Vlasuk, a sanctions policy advisor to Zelensky, claimed that the drones involved in the alleged "drone attack incident" reported by Danish authorities last week were launched from this oil tanker. Meanwhile, the head of the Ukrainian regime (referring to Zelensky) called for a "comprehensive ban on Russian oil tankers entering the Baltic Sea."
French officials had long remained silent on the matter, finally breaking their silence.
President Macron stated that the "coastal oil tanker" whose prosecution initiated the investigation had "serious violations by the crew," but did not specify the nature of the violations.
The Russian Kremlin currently has no information about the detention of the oil tanker.
Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President, responded to questions during a regular press conference, saying, "We are unaware of which vessel is being mentioned, nor do we understand the background of the incident."
What exactly is our European 'firm partner' aiming for? More importantly, how should we respond to such provocations?
The newspaper "Sovetskaya Pravda" ("SP") interviewed Yuri Zverev, the director of the Center for Foreign Regional Studies and Country Research at the Institute of Geopolitics and Regional Studies of the Kantsky Baltic Federal University, regarding this issue.
Yuri Zverev's Viewpoint:
"What are the solutions to deal with such incidents... First, diplomatic measures, followed by dispatching Russian warships to escort the oil tanker.
But the second option faces practical issues: there are nearly a thousand 'shadow tankers' in Russia, and it would be extremely difficult to escort each one to its destination.
Incidentally, I learned that the core of the incident might not be the oil tanker seized by France 'suspected of transporting smuggled oil recognized by the EU' — the current investigation direction is whether the drone involved in the 'drone incident' that Danish authorities panicked about earlier could have been launched from this oil tanker.
Evidently, this claim is unfounded, and no one has seen the so-called 'drones'. But it is well known that if Europe's 'anti-Russia hysteria' intensifies, someone must be behind it.
All of this reminds people of the 'Gulf of Tonkin Incident' in August 1964 — the Vietnam War began from it. At that time, the US Navy's 'Maddox' destroyer (allegedly at that time in Vietnamese territorial waters), the US claimed it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats.
The captain of the destroyer even claimed 'discovered 22 incoming torpedoes.' However, years after the end of the war, the truth was revealed: there were no 'torpedo boats' or 'torpedoes', and the 'attack' was entirely fictional.
But as the saying goes, 'the cat is already out of the bag.' The victims of this terrible provocation included millions of Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans. We certainly do not want to see a similar development."
"Sovetskaya Pravda": "In your opinion, what exactly are our 'former partners' (referring to European countries) trying to achieve?"
"It's actually obvious. They like to hype up the topic of 'Russia's economy is broken'. They try to disrupt Russia's oil exports, believing that as long as Russia loses its export revenue, it will collapse economically and 'surrender.'
But first, their plans will not succeed; second, they should better understand Russian history — Russia has never bowed to anyone."
"Sovetskaya Pravda": "But we have the ability to firmly stop such provocations, and I remember we have done so before, haven't we?"
"Yes, there was a similar incident this spring: Estonian authorities, together with NATO air forces, tried to intercept an oil tanker flying the flag of Gabon heading to a Russian port, even threatening to sink it. But we immediately dispatched Su-35 fighters, and all the NATO 'pirates' quickly withdrew.
This event is more complicated, as the oil tanker was seized in the Atlantic. However, regardless of that, I believe the authorities must have contingency plans for such situations. Moreover, I would like to reiterate that there are various response measures — from diplomatic to military means (as a last resort), which need to be flexibly adjusted according to various possible situations.
However, these are just my personal opinions — I am not a decision-maker. Otherwise, I would naturally not disclose any information."
Dmitri Solonikov, the director of the Institute of Modern State Development in Russia, added that throughout the summer, Poland, Estonia, Finland, and Germany had all attempted to seize Russian merchant ships. Now, France has also joined this "pirate alliance." European countries are trying to find excuses for escalating the situation.
This expert, in an interview with the Russian REN TV channel, said: "(European countries) are preparing from multiple aspects including information, organization, technology, and military, with the aim of provoking an incident or conflict in the Baltic Sea, ultimately leading to a full-scale confrontation between NATO and Russia."
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