The owner of a Moscow-linked tanker intercepted by France in May has been fined one million euros ($1.1 million), prosecutors said on Thursday.
The vessel is thought to be part of a fleet transporting Russian oil in violation of Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Under a plea agreement, the tanker Tagor “will be allowed to leave French territorial waters,” prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger said of the vessel fined for sailing without a valid flag and for failing to comply with orders.
The ship’s owner, a company registered in the Marshall Islands, admitted guilt and was convicted by a court in the western French city of Brest through a procedure known as prior admission of guilt, France’s equivalent of a plea bargain.
The shipowner will work “to obtain a new, lawful flag as soon as possible,” the prosecutor said.
Subject to US and EU sanctions, the Tagor has changed flags multiple times, sailing at various points under the flags of Madagascar, the Marshall Islands and Panama.
It was the fourth Moscow-linked tanker to be intercepted at sea by France since September 2025.
A fifth tanker, the Deliver, was intercepted off the coast of Sicily last month. The vessel remained detained in southeastern France as of Thursday.
Several Western countries have imposed sanctions on hundreds of vessels in Russia’s “shadow fleet” over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin has likened the seizure of Moscow-linked vessels to “international piracy.”
