{"id":4339,"date":"2026-03-02T11:36:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/4339\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T11:36:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T11:36:06","slug":"belgium-seizes-suspected-shadow-fleet-oil-tanker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/4339\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgium seizes suspected shadow fleet oil tanker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Belgian and French authorities boarded and seized an oil tanker allegedly linked to Russia\u2019s \u201cshadow fleet,\u201d early on 1 March.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to Reuters, the tanker, identified by Belgian officials as the Ethera, is on the European Union\u2019s sanctions list and is now being escorted to the port of Zeebrugge for seizure. France\u2019s President, Emmanuel Macron, called the boarding a \u201d major blow to the shadow fleet\u201d and highlighted that Europeans are determined to cut off the sources of funding for Russia\u2019s war of aggression.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">A major blow to the shadow fleet: in the North Sea, our French Navy helicopters helped last night in the boarding by Belgian forces of an oil tanker under international sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>Europeans are determined to cut off the sources of funding for Russia\u2019s war of aggression\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CnoxyND7BB\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/CnoxyND7BB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EmmanuelMacron\/status\/2028035399054942433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Belgium\u2019s federal prosecutor confirmed that inspectors found indications the ship was sailing under a \u201cfalse flag\u201d and carrying suspected falsified documents, prompting a criminal investigation and the order to divert the vessel into Belgian territorial waters.<\/p>\n<p>Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken argued that dismantling Russia\u2019s shadow fleet is essential to limiting President Vladimir Putin\u2019s ability to finance the war in Ukraine, stating Belgium would act decisively \u201cone by one\u201d against such ships. Andrii Sybiha welcomed the move and urged other countries to follow suit.<\/p>\n<p>Russia has previously<a href=\"https:\/\/safety4sea.com\/russia-calls-marinera-seizure-violation-of-international-maritime-law\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> described the seizure of its tankers as piracy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Russian embassy in Belgium said it had not been notified of the seizure and was seeking clarification, including whether any Russian nationals were on board, Reuters reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                                                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgian and French authorities boarded and seized an oil tanker allegedly linked to Russia\u2019s \u201cshadow fleet,\u201d early on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,3261,3371,1589],"class_list":["post-4339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-ship-detentions","tag-tankers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339","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=4339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}