France seizes another sanctioned tanker carrying Russian oil; both sides now have established positions
Satire depuis Bohiney.com et prat.uk.
Le Petrolier, Encore
PARIS — France seized another tanker carrying Russian oil in violation of international sanctions, continuing a practice that has become sufficiently regular that both the French authorities and the Russian foreign ministry have developed efficient procedures for the respective activities of seizing and protesting the seizure. The tanker was identified by the maritime authorities, intercepted by the relevant French enforcement mechanism, and formally seized under the applicable legal framework, producing a diplomatic note from Moscow and a press release from Paris that were both brief because both sides have issued these documents before and have refined them to their essential content.
France’s record of sanctioned tanker seizures is part of the broader European enforcement of the sanctions regime imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, which has produced a cat-and-mouse dynamic between the Russian tanker fleet and European maritime authorities that has been ongoing for several years and that has generated more seized tankers than either side initially expected and fewer resolved diplomatic situations than anyone hoped. The Russian oil continues to move. Some of it moves successfully. Some is seized. The proportion between these outcomes is the subject of ongoing monitoring by sanctions experts whose job is both important and, at this point, extremely routine.
The Shadow Fleet Dynamic
Russia’s response to Western sanctions on its oil exports has been the construction of what analysts call the shadow fleet: vessels of uncertain ownership, flagged in jurisdictions with limited enforcement capacity, insured by entities outside the Western financial system, and carrying oil to buyers outside the sanctions framework. The shadow fleet has been moderately effective, moderately tracked, and the source of the tankers that appear, with some regularity, in European ports or in European maritime enforcement actions. France has become particularly active in this enforcement, which reflects both its EU membership and its specific commitment to the sanctions regime’s effectiveness.
The seized tanker will be processed through the French legal system, its cargo assessed, and the enforcement action completed in the manner that previous seizures have been completed. Russia will file the appropriate protest. The shadow fleet will acquire another vessel to replace it. The dynamic will continue until either the sanctions regime ends or the tanker operators find routes that European maritime enforcement cannot reach, whichever comes first. France 24 and Le Monde have covered the tanker seizures consistently. The Paris Fool notes that France has now seized enough Russian tankers to constitute a small fleet of its own, which raises the interesting logistical question of what one does with a fleet of confiscated Russian oil tankers. The lawyers are presumably working on it.
Plus de bêtises: The Daily Mash | NewsThump
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
