France’s navy intercepts an oil tanker in the Mediterranean sailing from Russia

Associated Pravda ^ | January 22, 2026 | JOHN LEICESTER

[an amused spectator]

PARIS (AP) — France’s navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said.

French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag. The French navy is escorting the ship to anchorage for more checks, the statement said. The tanker departed from the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it said.

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TOPICS: Humor; Miscellaneous; Travel; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: 5thcolumnonfr; britishnavy; disruptorkywrdtroll; dukeywordtroll; dumbfrogs; france; frenchnavy; frenchpiracy; frenchpirates; interdiction; interdictions; littlenapoleon; macaroni; med; mediterranean; mediterraneansea; murmansk; oiltanker; piracy; russia; sanctions; shadowfleet; smuggling; tanker; thegrinch; themed; uk

[an amused spectator]

I guess Napoleon didn't lose enough guys in the march on Moscow.

Little Napoleon wants to one-up him.

[Texas Eagle]

France has a navy?????

[an amused spectator]

Get you a Lund bass boat, and they’ll surrender to you.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia...”
-
What was its destination?

[frank ballenger]

Ship to Ship Message:

This is Adm. Nicolas Vaujour and I am speaking to you now on the pfeun. Ready to hear your unconditional surrender to France. Can you hear me? Hello.

[House Atreides]

“ What was its destination?”
*****************************

Well…. almost certainly not to France. Have the Russians intercepted any French commercial vessels yet?

[lee martell]

“I say, Old Chap, have you any Grey Poupon?”

[an amused spectator]

Traveling from Murmansk through the Mediterranean.

Gerbils are envious of the balls of the French.

[alexander_busek]

Well…. almost certainly not to France. Have the Russians intercepted any French commercial vessels yet?

With the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, the Baltic Sea is now a NATO lake, thus effectively neutralizing Russia's famed Baltic Sea fleet.

Likewise, the Ukrainians have destroyed Russia's Black Sea fleet and limited what little remains to their ports in the extreme east.

Russia's naval assets are thus either bottled up, or have been "removed from the board."

So I think that the Russians would think twice before attempting to commandeer any French vessels.

Regards,

[TigersEye]

That will really show Russia that France means business.

Europe says it has turned the page on Russian energy, but 2025 data tell a different story: the European Union continues to import gas from Russia —above all in the form of LNG— and a fraction of crude thanks to exemptions on the Druzhba pipeline. In July, the five largest buyers transferred 1.100 billion euros to Russian suppliers; more than two-thirds was gas via TurkStream or LNG carriers. Hungary (485 M€) topped the list, followed by France (239 M€, all LNG), Slovakia (169 M€), Belgium (102 M€), and Spain (66 M€). One month earlier, the EU-wide total was 1.470 M€.

[an amused spectator]

I’ll bet the LNG tankers make a pretty light show when one goes up...

[Bobalu]

It's all fun and games until something happens to a LNG tanker.

Europe freezes without them, an enemy might realize this.

Caution is advised

[NorseViking]

Your fantasies are amusing.

[Wallace T.]

Russia used to have a pretty effective submarine force in the Soviet days. Did the post-Soviet Russian Navy not maintain their submarines?