Russia tells France to free tanker captain it says was detained on false charges

MOSCOW, June 3 (Reuters) – Russia is demanding that France release the captain of a tanker detained in France on what it says are false charges, the Russian embassy in Paris said on Wednesday.

France’s navy said on Monday it had intercepted a sanctioned tanker, the Tagor, linked to the Russian oil trade in the Atlantic Ocean. Paris ordered it to head to the French mainland, in a move Moscow said was illegal and amounted to “international piracy.”

The Russian embassy said that French authorities had informed Moscow that the vessel’s captain, a Russian national, had been detained on what it described as “trumped-up” charges.

“The Embassy has once again contacted the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanding immediate consular access to the Russian citizen and his prompt release,” the embassy said in a statement.

Russia has relied on old vessels, known in the West as the “shadow fleet”, to ship its oil and gas in the face of Western sanctions.

France and Britain have vowed to obstruct such vessels as part of a European strategy to reduce Russia’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine.

Russia rejects the “shadow fleet” label, says its oil shipments are legitimate, and has condemned Western attempts to intercept tankers as illegal and akin to piracy, warning it reserves the right to take steps to protect its own shipping.

(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Andrew Osborn)