{"id":4150,"date":"2026-03-01T10:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/4150\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T10:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T10:55:20","slug":"belgium-france-seize-russian-shadow-fleet-tanker-in-the-north-sea-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/4150\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium, France seize Russian &#8216;shadow fleet&#8217; tanker in the North Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/belgium\/\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Belgium<\/a>&#8216;s special forces boarded and seized an oil tanker allegedly belonging to <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/france\/20260122-we-will-let-nothing-pass-france-intercepts-russia-linked-oil-tanker-in-mediterranean\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">what has been dubbed the &#8220;shadow fleet&#8221;<\/a> <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/russia\/\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Russia<\/a> uses to circumvent Western <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/sanctions\/\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">sanctions<\/a> over the war in <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/ukraine\/\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ukraine<\/a>, the government said on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Pr\u00e9vot said the vessel was intercepted in the North Sea during an overnight operation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Today, a vessel from Russia&#8217;s shadow fleet was intercepted in the North Sea,&#8221; Pr\u00e9vot wrote on X, thanking Belgian special forces for their &#8220;exceptional professionalism and courage&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said the intercepted tanker was &#8220;being escorted to the port of Zeebrugge, where it will be seized&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>A Belgian official \u200csaid the seized vessel <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vesselfinder.com\/vessels\/details\/9387279\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">is named Ethera<\/a> and is on the <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/european-union\/\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">European Union<\/a>&#8216;s \u200bsanctions list.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a-read-more\">Read more<a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/europe\/20260131-are-the-west-tightening-oil-sanctions-finally-taking-toll-russia-economy\" class=\"a-read-more__link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Are the West&#8217;s tightening oil sanctions finally taking their toll on Russia\u2019s economy?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>French President <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/emmanuel-macron\/\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Emmanuel Macron<\/a> confirmed on X that French naval forces assisted in the operation, calling it a &#8220;major blow&#8221; to Russia&#8217;s so-called shadow fleet.<\/p>\n<p>Russia has used a flotilla of ageing tankers of opaque ownership to get around restrictions on its lucrative crude exports imposed over its 2022 all-out invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>The European Union has blacklisted hundreds of vessels in a bid to sap Moscow&#8217;s war chest.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sanctions only matter if they are enforced. Today, we enforced them,&#8221; Pr\u00e9vot said.<\/p>\n<p>Francken told Reuters that the seized vessel was suspected of sailing with a &#8220;false flag \u2060and false documents&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Maritime tracking site VesselFinder reports the Ethera is sailing under a Guinean flag.<\/p>\n<p>The operation was carried out alongside Belgium&#8217;s G7, Nordic and Baltic partners and in coordination with France, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Russia has called the seizure of its tankers or \u2060vessels carrying its \u200bcargoes an act of piracy.<\/p>\n<p>(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgium&#8216;s special forces boarded and seized an oil tanker allegedly belonging to what has been dubbed the &#8220;shadow&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,69,115,3261,390,979],"class_list":{"0":"post-4150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belgium","8":"tag-belgium","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-oil-and-gas-industry","12":"tag-russia","13":"tag-shipping"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}