On the night of March 1, Belgium detained an oil tanker of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, Belgian Defence Minister Theo Franken said on social media.
According to him, the Belgian and French militaries boarded the vessel as part of Operation Blue Intruder. The vessel is being escorted to the port of Zeebrugge, where it will be detained.
In January, the tanker Grinch with Russian crude oil was detained off the coast of France. The vessel is under sanctions by the US, EU, UK, Ukraine and Canada and is suspected of using a foreign flag.
In February, France said the Grinch would leave French territorial waters after paying a fine of several million euros.
Moscow earlier called the detention of the “shadow fleet” tankers “piracy.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a speech in Davos on 22 January called on European partners to follow the example of the United States, which stops tankers of the Russian “shadow fleet” and confiscates their cargo.
“Shadow fleet” refers to tankers that Russia is using to circumvent sanctions against its oil industry, imposed after a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ukraine’s partners are also imposing sanctions on vessels in the so-called “shadow fleet”. There were almost 600 vessels on the EU sanctions lists as of December 2025.
Belgium detains oil tanker of ‘shadow fleet’ Russia minister