Oil tanker seized in Mediterranean now under investigation in France

The oil tanker Deyna, detained earlier in the Mediterranean Sea, has been escorted to the port of Marseille-Fos, French maritime authorities confirmed.

According to the press service of the French Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture, the vessel has been placed at anchor and handed over to the Marseille prosecutor’s office, which has opened a preliminary investigation on suspicion of concealing its state affiliation.

Authorities have imposed “temporary maritime and air exclusion zones” around the tanker, with enforcement assigned to units of the maritime gendarmerie and the French Navy.

The vessel was intercepted on March 20 in the western Mediterranean by French naval forces, with support from the United Kingdom, amid suspicions it was operating under a false flag. French President Emmanuel Macron said the tanker is believed to be part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.”

According to sources, the Deyna had departed from Murmansk and was sailing under the flag of Mozambique at the time of its detention.

The Russian Embassy in France stated it had not received official information from French authorities regarding the incident and said it had no details about the composition of the vessel’s crew.

By Vafa Guliyeva