The French Navy on Thursday intercepted the sanctioned Russian oil tanker Grinch in the Mediterranean’s Alboran Sea, east of Gibraltar.
We will not tolerate any violation.
This morning, the French Navy boarded an oil tanker coming from Russia, subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag.
The operation was conducted on the high seas in the Mediterranean,… pic.twitter.com/zhXVdzPx1r
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 22, 2026
In a post on X, French President Emmanuel Macron said the tanker was “subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag.”
“The operation was conducted on the high seas in the Mediterranean, with the support of several of our allies. It was carried out in strict compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Macron added.
According to reports, the tanker loaded oil in Murmansk, Russia, at the end of 2025, then headed toward the Mediterranean. Its last Automatic Identification System signal indicated it was “for orders.”
The vessel was sanctioned by the U.S. in January 2025 for violating the G7 price cap on Russian oil, followed by the EU in February and the UK in July. Canada and Switzerland have also imposed sanctions on the tanker.
Authorities said the tanker is currently being escorted by the French Navy for further inspection.
📍Mediterranean | High sea intervention led by the French Navy to control the pavilion of an oil tanker
⚓ Rerouting at the demand of the public prosecutor – under escort by the @MarineNationale – to proceed to further inspection
🛡️ Operation conducted in cooperation with our… https://t.co/PG7ZjgoqPk pic.twitter.com/w9u2QYQBEw
— The 🇫🇷 Joint Staff – Military operations (@FrenchForces) January 22, 2026
The Grinch is the most recent Russian-linked vessel intercepted by the U.S. and European powers in recent months.
The interception comes as the European Union imposed more than a dozen sanctions against Russia in response to the country’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the sanctions, Moscow continues to sell millions of barrels of oil to other countries, such as China and India. Much of the oil is carried by a “shadow fleet” of vessels operating outside of the Western maritime industry.
A November report from the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found that more than 100 Russian vessels flew a false flag in the first nine months of 2025, transporting about 11 million tonnes of oil valued at 4.7 billion euros ($5.5 billion).
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked his French counterpart Macron for intercepting the vessel.
“This is exactly the kind of resolve needed to ensure that Russian oil no longer finances Russia’s war,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Russian tankers operating near European shores must be stopped.”
Thank you, France! Thank you, @EmmanuelMacron! This is exactly the kind of resolve needed to ensure that Russian oil no longer finances Russia’s war. Russian tankers operating near European shores must be stopped. Sanctions against the entire infrastructure of the shadow fleet… https://t.co/6t0DbJ9xS1
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 22, 2026
