Reunion: Emmanuel Macron announces the boarding of an oil tanker suspected of belonging to the Russian ghost fleet

A ship “suspected of sailing under a false flag”, and “involved” in “fuel transport” traffic, was boarded on Monday by the French navy in the “south of Reunion”, announced Emmanuel Macron.

“This morning, more than 450 nautical miles south of Reunion, our French Navy boarded the tanker DF Peak,” announced the head of state on

Skip the ad

More than 700 ships on the European sanctions list

Flying the Beninese flag, the DF Peak is an oil tanker appearing on the EU list of ships placed under sanctions, suspected of belonging to the Russian ghost fleet since June 25, 2024 when it was called Kaliningrad. “The examination of the documents by the visiting team after boarding confirmed the doubts as to the irregularity of the flag flown”, for its part indicated on

More than 700 ships are currently on the European sanctions list. Ships suspected of being used by Russia to export its hydrocarbons despite American, British or European sanctions, sometimes change their name or flag to evade controls. The French president's announcement comes in a context of European concern about the future of the war in Ukraine, after the lifting of sanctions and an agreement on Russian diesel between Washington and Moscow.

Donald Trump lifts sanctions on Russian diesel

American President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he had negotiated the delivery of massive quantities of Russian diesel to the American and world markets, to do so lifting sanctions weighing on Moscow, to the great dismay of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who denounced an “unworthy” decision. The European Union, for its part, promised to continue to strengthen its own measures against Moscow, and the head of its diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, declared on Saturday that the lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel was helping to fuel the war waged by the Kremlin against its Ukrainian neighbor.

Donald Trump also announced on Sunday an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine. A truce not respected according to Volodymyr Zelensky: “It is becoming increasingly clear that Russia refuses to accept the energy truce proposed by the United States and that it intends to continue its terrorist air attacks against our population,” he said on Monday on X. According to the Ukrainian leader, Russia struck six energy infrastructures in Ukraine on Monday.