France has said it is increasing pressure on Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine by detaining an oil tanker suspected of operating as part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” and putting its captain on trial.
France’s detention of the tanker is part of a new European strategy to block revenue funding Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said at an EU event in Copenhagen on Thursday.
“We want to increase pressure on Russia to convince it to return to the negotiating table,” Macron said. “We have now decided to take a step further by moving towards a policy of obstruction when we have suspicious ships in our waters that are involved in this trafficking.”
The tanker, called the Boracay, was sailing last week off the coast of Denmark and was cited by European