Captain of Russian “shadow fleet” tanker convicted in France

A French court has sentenced the captain of a tanker linked to Russia’s shadow fleet to one year in prison and fined him 150,000 euros.

This is reported by Le Monde.

This is the Chinese captain of the Boracay vessel, Chen Zhangjie, who was detained after an incident off the coast of Brittany.

According to the investigation, the captain refused to comply with the demands of the French military when they attempted to inspect the 244-meter tanker without clearly identifying its flag. His actions forced the military to perform a dangerous maneuver that could have led to an accident.

The court in Brest found him guilty of disobeying orders. Zhangjie himself was not present at the verdict, and the court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Law enforcement officials found that representatives of a Russian private security company were on board, monitoring the crew and gathering information. The tanker was transporting Russian oil to India and was flying a false flag of Benin before being detained.

The ship was also previously suspected of involvement in drone incidents over Denmark, but this episode was not considered by the French court.

After the incident, the tanker changed its name to Phoenix and sailed under the Russian flag. French authorities detained it for about six days.

It was previously reported that the “shadow fleet” tanker Boracay, suspected of involvement in the launch of drones over Denmark, continued its movement towards the Suez Canal.

Recall that the tanker ALTURA was attacked in the Black Sea , which, according to the Turkish side, belongs to the so-called “shadow fleet” of Russia and was transporting oil.