France seizes tanker linked to Russia’s shadow fleet near Sicily

France seized the tanker Deliver near Sicily on June 25 after French authorities linked it to Russia’s shadow fleet and found it sailing under a Cameroonian flag it no longer held. The vessel had left Primorsk, one of Russia’s main oil export terminals, and was headed toward the Suez Canal and then Singapore when French authorities detained it.

French authorities said the ship’s lack of a valid registry gave its navy grounds to board the vessel under maritime law. The seizure was France’s fifth of a suspected shadow-fleet tanker since September 2025, and it came as Europe widened a crackdown that has already led to nine suspected shadow-fleet tankers being seized across the continent since the start of 2026, including four by France.

Emmanuel Macron said Europe would not allow the shadow fleet to evade restrictions or finance Russia’s war effort, adding: “Europe is determined.” The Russian embassy in France called the seizure “another case of piracy” and said it was illegal and unacceptable.

Britain seized another Russian shadow-fleet tanker in the English Channel on June 14, and three additional suspected ships were inspected in the Mediterranean during a European naval mission.

The shadow fleet uses opaque ownership structures, shifting flags and intermediary insurers to keep moving discounted Russian crude to buyers such as India and China. European officials were working in mid-June on a 21st sanctions package, and later proposals included adding more shadow-fleet vessels and, for the first time, targeting service providers such as bunkering firms that help the ships operate.