French President Emmanuel Macron announced the blockade of this oil tanker in a post on X social network on June 1. He said that the Tagor oil tanker was searched on May 31 in the Atlantic Ocean. The post included a video showing a person hanging on ropes from a helicopter down to the ship.
Mr. Macron emphasized that ships like Tagor have violated international sanctions. "These ships, which do not respect the most basic rules of navigation, are also a threat to the environment and security of everyone" - the French leader added.
According to French officials, the oil tanker Tagor departed from Murmansk in northwestern Russia. The maritime agency's announcement said that the fake ship was flying the Cameroon flag and was heading towards Limbe, a coastal city in western Cameroon.
Mr. Guillaume Le Rasle - spokesman for the French Atlantic Maritime Administration - said that the oil tanker is subject to sanctions from the European Union and the United States. "This is a ship that has been known and monitored. The decision to divert the ship was made on the evening of May 31. The purpose of the diversion is to verify the validity of the national flag," he said.
He added that this oil tanker, which regularly changes its national flag, was "almost empty" at the time of arrest.
The last time the Tagor signaled the Automatic Identification System (AIS) was a week ago, while moving off the coast of Norway and flying the Madagascar flag, according to data from the MarineTraffic tracking system.
According to French authorities, the blockade of the Tagor ship took place about 740km west of the French peninsula of Brittany.
Oil is an important source of revenue for Russia. Russia is said to be using a fleet of hundreds of ships to evade international sanctions imposed related to the conflict in Ukraine.
Some Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russian ships after the conflict in Ukraine broke out in 2022.
France and other countries have pledged to strongly suppress this "dark fleet". Since September 2025, France has searched 3 other ships suspected of belonging to Russia's "dark fleet". These ships have resumed their journey after the owners paid fines.
In September 2025, the French Navy searched the Boracay ship, flying the Benin flag. The captain of this ship was brought to trial in absentia. In March this year, a French court issued an arrest warrant and sentenced the captain of the Boracay ship to 1 year in prison.
In January 2026, French forces also seized another oil tanker suspected of being Russian, the Grinch. By March, the Deyna, departing from Murmansk, flying the Mozambique flag, was arrested in Marseille.
In April this year, France announced plans to double penalties for ships that do not fly flags or refuse to comply.
