French naval forces have seized a Russian tanker linked to Moscow’s shadow fleet off the country’s western coast and detained two of its senior crew members.
The tanker, known as the Boracay or Pushpa, was sailing under the flag of Benin and was carrying about 750,000 barrels of crude oil from the Russian port of Primorsk to Adinar, India.
The French court in Brest announced that the investigation is focused on two main axes: ambiguity in the ship’s flag and nationality, and disobedience to orders from authorities.
The ship, previously known as Kiwala and Pushpa, was sanctioned by the European Union in February 2025 and by the United Kingdom in October 2024, and is accused of transporting Russian oil using risky maritime methods to circumvent Western sanctions.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the tanker part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which includes 600 to 1,000 old, unidentified ships used to export Moscow’s oil.
