French Navy boards Russian “shadow fleet” tanker DF Peak in the Indian Ocean; Macron: “We will fight the ghost fleet everywhere”

The French Navy boarded the tanker DF Peak on Monday, October 12, more than 450 nautical miles south of the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. The vessel is considered part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”. “France is determined to fight the ghost fleet wherever it is in the world,” President Emmanuel Macron wrote in a post, explaining that the ship is suspected of sailing under a false flag and of involvement in illegal fuel transport.

According to Macron, the operation was carried out in accordance with the international law of the sea and shows Paris’s resolve to enforce the law and fight all illicit trafficking. Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin congratulated the armed forces of the Southern Indian Ocean zone, who were mobilised for the interception, and said the tanker is now escorted by French forces so that inspections can continue under the responsibility of Réunion’s prefect. “International law is not optional,” she wrote.

What DF Peak is

According to the War & Sanctions portal of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (HUR), DF Peak is a crude oil tanker formerly named Kaliningrad, sailing under a false Benin flag and subject to sanctions by the US, the EU, Switzerland, Canada and Japan.

The “shadow fleet” is the network of ageing tankers, often with opaque ownership and inadequate insurance, which Russia uses to keep exporting oil while bypassing Western sanctions. These ships have also become targets of military attacks, such as Ukraine’s Sea Baby drone strikes in the Black Sea and a strike on a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean.

Moscow’s reaction

The Russian embassy in Paris told the state news agency TASS that France is “violating international law by detaining merchant ships on the high seas” and is trying to cover up “piracy” by invoking the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Paris has not yet provided details on the cargo, on the flag the ship declared at the time of boarding, or on the port to which it will be taken. Further inspections are being carried out under the authority of Réunion’s prefect.

The boarding of DF Peak took place far from European waters, where most inspections of shadow fleet ships are carried out. It shows that Paris is using its permanent naval forces in overseas territories to put pressure on Russian oil exports.