Source: Le Monde [France]
“The French navy boarded a vessel suspected of illegally smuggling oil in an operation off the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday, October 12. Macron vowed no let-up in the struggle against the ‘shadow fleet’ – a term used for the clandestine network of ships used by Russia to circumvent Western embargoes since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. … The DF Peak flies a Benin flag and is among the 700 ships on the EU’s sanctions list. Prior to 2024, it was called Kaliningrad. New measures permit European Union members to sell the oil or any other cargo seized from the ships. Moscow has bristled at the moves, with Russian President Vladimir Putin [noticing that it is] ‘piracy and banditry.'” (10/13/26)