Belgium seizes Russian 'shadow fleet' tanker

Belgium's special forces boarded and seized an oil tanker from the "shadow fleet" Russia uses to circumvent Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine, in an overnight operation announced Sunday.

The Belgian government said the "vessel from Russia's shadow fleet" was intercepted in the North Sea, with aerial support from French military helicopters.

Defence Minister Theo Francken said the tanker was escorted to the port of Zeebrugge after being intercepted in Belgium's exclusive economic zone.

Prosecutors identified the ship, which was said to be on its way back to Russia, as the "Ethera".

A spokeswoman for the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said the ship captain, a Russian national, was being questioned by investigators.

The tanker flew the flag of Guinea, but an on-board inspection confirmed suspicions that it was sailing under a false flag, the office said.

"Ship documents were found that are suspected of being false," prosecutors said in a statement, adding that authorities have opened a criminal investigation.

"If a ship sails under a false flag, this means that it does not comply with several international regulations," the statement added.

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on X that his country's naval forces assisted in the operation, calling it a "major blow" to Russia's so-called "shadow fleet".

Russia has used a flotilla of ageing tankers of opaque ownership to get around restrictions on its lucrative crude exports imposed over its 2022 all-out invasion of Ukraine.

The Belgian defence ministry said the seized tanker was on the European Union's sanctions list. The EU has blacklisted hundreds of vessels in a bid to sap Moscow's war chest.

"Sanctions only matter if they are enforced. Today, we enforced them," Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot, who is also Belgium's deputy prime minister, said on X.