Reunion: navigation prohibited around the Russian ghost fleet tanker

The prefecture of Reunion Island established security perimeters on Wednesday prohibiting navigation around the tanker DF Peak, suspected of belonging to the Russian “ghost fleet” and expected in the coming hours in La Possession Bay, in the northwest of the island.

According to two prefectural decrees, navigation and nautical activities are prohibited within a radius of 1,000 meters around this vessel during its transit in territorial waters, then within a radius of 500 meters at its anchorage point in the bay of La Possession, in the northwest of the island. These measures, applicable from Thursday at 12:00 a.m. (Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. in Paris), are justified by the “specific risks” linked to its “absence of AIS emission” (Automatic Identification System) and by “the possible influx of people”, specifies the prefecture.

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Russia denounces a “clear act of piracy”

This diversion follows an inspection carried out on the high seas on Monday by the French Navy, nearly 500 nautical miles south of Reunion, which confirmed the “irregularity of the Beninese flag” flown. The 21 crew members are subject to deprivation of liberty for 48 hours. The Saint-Denis public prosecutor's office opened an investigation on Tuesday against the commander for the offense of "failure to justify nationality", punishable by two years' imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros. The investigations will focus “in particular on establishing the operating conditions of the vessel and identifying its owner and its shipowner,” said the prosecutor.

The boarding of this vessel, which was called Kaliningrad until June 2024 and is among more than 700 ships sanctioned by the European Union, was announced Monday evening by Emmanuel Macron in the name of the fight against the “ghost fleet” used by Moscow. On Tuesday, the Russian embassy in France denounced on its official Telegram channel a “flagrant violation of the norms of international law” and a “clear act of piracy”, adding that it had not been informed of the operation by Paris. This decision comes in a climate of concern in Europe about the future of the war in Ukraine, after the announcement on Friday by Donald Trump of the lifting of certain sanctions to massively deliver Russian diesel to the markets, a decision castigated by Volodymyr Zelensky.

The “ghost fleet” is made up of often aging ships operating under foreign flags, which Moscow is accused of using to transport its oil and other goods, circumventing Western sanctions. France has promised to increase pressure against these boats and intends to organize this fall, presumably in November, an international conference on the subject. Paris would like to share with its partners a legal framework encouraging them to board these boats. France also wants to encourage foreign countries to no longer assign flags to these ships.