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French prosecutors investigate seized oil tanker suspected of evading sanctions on Russia

PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors said Friday they opened an investigation into an oil tanker intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by the French navy and suspected of shipping Russian petroleum in violation of sanctions against Moscow.

The Grinch, an oil tanker that came from Murmansk in northwestern Russia and is suspected of being part of the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, was redirected to an anchorage following Thursday’s operation by the French navy.

Prosecutors in the southern French city of Marseille said Friday they were investigating the ship’s alleged failure to confirm its nationality.

A video provided by the French military show members of the navy boarding the ship from a helicopter.

Russia is believed to be using what has been described as a “shadow fleet” of over 400 ships to evade sanctions over its war on Ukraine. France and other countries have vowed to crack down.

The fleet is a compilation of aging vessels and tankers owned by nontransparent entities with addresses in non-sanctioning countries, and sailing under flags from such countries.

Last September, French naval forces boarded another oil tanker off the French Atlantic coast that Macron also linked to the shadow fleet. Putin denounced that interception as an act of piracy.

The tanker’s captain will go on trial in February over the crew’s alleged refusal to cooperate, according to French judicial authorities.

Ukraine’s drone strikes set a gloomy tone for Putin’s economic showcase

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — A massive black cloud rising above the St. Petersburg skyline from a Ukrainian drone strike set a gloomy tone for the opening of President Vladimir Putin's annual showcase of Russia's economic achievements. With Putin set to arrive Thursday in his hometown that is hosting the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Ukrainian attack a day earlier that set an oil terminal ablaze was another embarrassing blow to his efforts to minimize the impact of the 4-year-old conflict and cast it as a distant event with no effect on Russian daily life. The attack, which also targeted a naval base near Russia's second-largest city on the Gulf of Finland, underlined Ukraine’s growing capability to hit deep inside its neighbor and demonstrated that even the heavily protected city where Putin was born is increasingly vulnerable. Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.
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