Le Monde: Russian oil tanker sailed under false Cameroonian flag

French naval forces are escorting the sanctioned oil tanker Tagor, which was detained the previous day after departing from Russia, to an anchorage for further inspection.

According to the Atlantic maritime prefecture, the tanker was “sailing under a fake Cameroonian flag and heading to Limbe, a port city in the west of the African country.” After an inspection team boarded the vessel, document checks confirmed suspicions regarding the unlawful use of the flag. The case was subsequently referred to the prosecutor’s office in Brest, which has jurisdiction over maritime cases, Le Monde reports.

It is noted that Tagor changed flags several times. The last recorded geolocation signal, transmitted a week ago, showed the vessel off the coast of Norway sailing under the flag of Madagascar.

According to the prefecture, the interception of the sanctioned oil tanker took place more than 400 nautical miles (around 740 km) west of the Brittany coast. The vessel had departed from Murmansk.

There are 23 crew members on board. Le Monde, citing the Russian embassy in Paris, reports that the captain of the Tagor is a Russian citizen. The embassy also stated that the French authorities did not notify it of the measures taken against the vessel.

The detention of Tagor marks France’s fourth such operation against vessels linked to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.” Previously, Paris detained the tankers Deyna and Grinch in the Mediterranean Sea in March and January 2026 respectively, as well as the Boracay, which was seized off the coast of Brittany in September 2025 while sailing without a flag.

By Vafa Guliyeva