Macron casts French tanker seizure as Europe’s warning shot to Russia
France’s navy intercepted the Russian shadow fleet tanker Deliver on June 23, 2026. (Photo: Frank Behling / Marinetraffic)
The French Navy on June 23 intercepted Russian shadow fleet tanker
Deliver off Sicily after it violated maritime law, French President Emmanuel
Macron said
on June 25.
“Another action against the shadow fleet, carried out only
days after a similar British operation, shows Europeans’ resolve,” Macron wrote
on X.
He posted video of French troops boarding Deliver.
Macron said Europe was determined to fight Russian sanctions
evasion. The French president added that Europe would do everything possible to
increase the cost of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on June 14 that
British forces had intercepted
Russian shadow fleet tanker Smyrtos as it tried to pass through the English
Channel, the first such British operation. The Cameroon-flagged Smyrtos was
sailing from the Russian port of Ust-Luga.
The tanker’s captain, a 38-year-old Indian national, remains
in custody. He has been charged with violating sanctions, with a court hearing
scheduled for July 16.
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