French authorities have allowed the detained oil tanker GRINCH to leave territorial waters after the vessel's owner company was ordered to pay a fine of "several million euros," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Tuesday, UNN reports.
Details
"Circumventing European sanctions has its price. Russia will no longer be able to finance its war with impunity through a 'shadow fleet' off our coast. The oil tanker Grinch will leave French waters after paying several million euros and spending three weeks of expensive detention in Fos-sur-Mer. We move on," Barrot wrote in his post on X.
As Reuters notes, the vessel left the Russian port of Murmansk in early January, sailing under the Comoros flag, French authorities said.
The vessel's owner company was ordered to pay a fine for failing to justify its flag, French authorities added in their statement.
Addition
The GRINCH vessel was detained in the Mediterranean Sea last month and then diverted to an anchorage near the French port city of Marseille on suspicion that it was part of a "shadow fleet" allowing Russia to export oil despite sanctions.