PARIS, July 2 (Reuters) – French authorities on Thursday fined the ‘Tagor’ tanker, which they intercepted and impounded at the end of May over its role in shipping Russian oil and gas, €1 million ($1.1 million).
• The French Ministry of Justice added in a statement that the Tagor was now free to leave French waters, following the payment of the fine.
• On June 1, French President Emmanuel Macron posted a video on X showing commandos boarding the Tagor in an operation that occurred the previous day.
• Russia has relied on old vessels, known as the ‘shadow fleet’, to ship its oil and gas, in order to avoid sanctions imposed on Moscow by Western governments due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• France and Britain have vowed to obstruct such vessels as part of a European strategy to reduce Russia’s ability to fund the war.
• Russia rejects the “shadow fleet” label. The Russian government says its oil shipments are legitimate, and it has condemned Western attempts to intercept tankers as illegal and akin to piracy.
($1 = 0.8765 euros)
(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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