For the fourth time since last September, the French Navy intercepted a suspected tanker from the Russian shadow fleet. The target this time was the Tagor, coming from Murmansk, which is officially sailing under the Madagascar flag. However, the reason for the French intervention in the Atlantic, about 400 nautical miles (740 kilometers) west of Brittany, was that the vessel had repeatedly changed flags and was currently flying the flag of the country stated as its destination, Cameroon.
According to France, this fulfilled the definition of a stateless ship under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which may be boarded and inspected by any state. Ships previously seized by the French Navy apparently also bore African flags at that time. The Tagor was reportedly commissioned in 2005 as British Gannet under the Isle of Man flag, renamed in 2018 to Piper under the Marshall Islands flag, and in 2022 as Priapus under the Panamanian flag. It has carried its current name since 2024.
Support by the British Navy
Since 2025 it has been under sanctions by the EU, the United States, Ukraine and Switzerland, and from this year also by Great Britain. The owning company is also sanctioned for its ties to the Iranian regime. In the Atlantic operation, French forces reportedly boarded by fast-roping from a helicopter. As in the case of the tanker Grinch earlier this year in the Mediterranean, they also received support from the British Navy and other allies in the process.
Russia described the action, as usual, as illegal and “on the edge of international piracy.” According to statements from France, the captain of the Tagor is a Russian citizen, and the tanker itself was virtually unloaded. The United States, as well as Finland and Sweden, have repeatedly seized vessels over alleged violations of sanctions.
