PARIS (AP) — A French prosecutor said police have detained two crew members of an oil tanker immobilized off the country’s Atlantic coast which President Emmanuel Macron linked to Russia.

Macron has alleged that that the tanker belongs to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers of uncertain ownership and safety practices that are avoiding Western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Stéphane Kellenberger, prosecutor of the western port city of Brest, said Thursday that the crew members presenting themselves as the ship’s captain and chief mate have been in custody since at least Wednesday.

A preliminary investigation was opened into the crew’s “refusal to cooperate” and “failure to justify the nationality of the vessel” after the Atlantic Maritime Prefect alerted justice aut

See Full Page