A French court will try the Chinese captain of a Russian-linked oil tanker early next year after the vessel, part of Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet,” was intercepted off the French coast, prosecutors…

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.kde.social/post/4574561

A French court is to try the Chinese captain of a tanker from Russia’s “shadow fleet” early next year after it was intercepted off France, prosecutors said Thursday, in a move seen as a message to Moscow over its efforts to skirt Western oil sanctions.

The French navy on Saturday stopped the Boracay, a vessel claiming to be flagged in Benin and blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet” of ageing oil tankers, according to the public prosecutor’s office in the northwestern city of Brest.

  • Ziggurat@jlai.luEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    Note that they’ll be tried only for refusing to comply with a police check whatever is the proper word for that. The kind of stuff you get a fine for.

    Looks like more a pretext to bring that captain to France and have intelligence service talking with him than a serious crime.