The vessel was convicted of sailing under a false flag and refusing to obey orders.
On Thursday, a French court fined the owner of the Tagor oil tanker one million euros. The tanker was intercepted by the French Navy in the North Atlantic in late May as part of the “fight” against the evasion of international sanctions.
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The vessel was convicted of sailing under a false flag and refusing to obey orders, after a court appearance in which it pleaded guilty. After paying the fine and remaining detained for a month in the Bay of Douarnenez, it will be allowed to resume its voyage.
French authorities stated that the Tagor, en route from Murmansk to Cameroon, was sailing under the Cameroonian flag to “avoid” Western sanctions on Russian oil stemming from the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin called the operation “international piracy,” while France defended the action as an application of the law of the sea and a “tool” to increase the cost of sanctions evasion.
BREAKING: French military forces have detained the oil tanker Tagor in the Atlantic Ocean.
The vessel is under international sanctions and was traveling from Russia. pic.twitter.com/a0zq4EzsZO
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 1, 2026
The Tagor had changed flags several times, using the flags of Madagascar, the Marshall Islands, and Panama, which the French court said is a “common practice” among Russia’s so-called ghost fleet.
It was the fifth vessel intercepted by France since September 2025. The most recent, the Deliver, was detained off Sicily in June and remains impounded in Marseille.
According to the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), the Russian ghost fleet numbered some 3,300 vessels at the end of 2024, including 1,140 oil tankers, equivalent to 18% of the world’s crude oil transport fleet.
#Venezuela | Our correspondent reports a breakthrough on the fourth day of intense rescue operations in Los Cocos, La Guaira state. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of local emergency brigades and international teams from France, Germany, and the United States, survivors have… pic.twitter.com/RKkQPch6V5
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) June 28, 2026
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Source: EFE
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