France moves suspected Russian "shadow fleet" tanker to Marseille

A tanker suspected of belonging to Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" has been moved to waters near Marseille after being seized by the French navy near Sicily, French authorities said.

The vessel, Deliver, was taken to the Gulf of Fos on June 26, one day after its detention. It is one of nine ships seized across Europe since the beginning of 2026 on suspicion of being used to help Russia circumvent Western sanctions on its oil exports, Reuters reports.

"It will be anchored and held at the disposal of the Marseille public prosecutor as part of the investigation into the alleged offence of sailing under a false flag," the Bouches-du-Rhone Prefecture said.

According to a military source, the tanker was operating under a Cameroonian flag despite having been removed from Cameroon's shipping registry several weeks earlier. The source said the vessel was effectively sailing without nationality, in violation of international maritime law, allowing French authorities to board and detain it.

Russia's embassy in France condemned the seizure, calling it "another case of piracy" and "illegal and unacceptable from the point of view of international law," according to Russia's TASS news agency.

European authorities have increased scrutiny of vessels believed to be part of Russia's "shadow fleet," a network of ageing tankers accused of transporting Russian oil outside Western sanctions regimes.

By Sabina Mammadli