France arrested the Russian captain of the oil tanker Tagor on 2 June after the French Navy, assisted by Britain, seized the vessel in international waters on 31 May on suspicion it was flying a false flag, Brest prosecutor Stéphane Kellenberger announced on 3 June.
The arrest marks France's second prosecution of a shadow-fleet captain in months — a sign that European navies are moving from interdiction to criminal accountability for vessels suspected of circumventing sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil.
The shadow fleet is a network of aging tankers that frequently operate under opaque ownership structures and flags of convenience to bypass EU and G7 sanctions imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Charges and potential penalties
The captain faces up to one year in prison and a €150,000 ($174,000) fine, Kellenberger said. The shipowner, currently being identified, may face the same penalties, he added.
The Tagor was flying a Cameroonian flag falsely and was en route from Murmansk, in northwestern Russia, toward Limbe, a port city on Cameroon's western coast, according to French authorities. The captain refused to comply with orders before the vessel was boarded.
Tanker's suspected ownership and cargo
The Tagor is suspected of carrying Russian or Iranian oil in violation of international sanctions, according to French authorities. Open-source database Opensanctions.org links the vessel to petroleum shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.
Shamkhani is the son of Ali Shamkhani, a former adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Both were killed on 28 February, the first day of US-Israeli strikes that opened the current Middle East war, according to France 24.
