French court fines owner of sanctioned tanker €1 million

The owner of the oil tanker Tagor, which was detained by the French Navy in the Atlantic Ocean, has been fined €1 million for operating the vessel without a flag and refusing to comply with orders from French authorities, Le Parisien reports, citing the Brest prosecutor's office in western France.

The office said, under a plea agreement, the administrative detention order imposed on the vessel will be lifted, allowing it to leave France's territorial waters.

On June 1, French President Emmanuel Macron made it clear that the French Navy, with support from the United Kingdom and other partners, had detained the sanctioned tanker Tagor in the Atlantic while it was sailing from Russia.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated Moscow considers the detention of the tanker unlawful, adding that the move was "bordering on piracy."

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov