French military boards Russian 'shadow' vessel

French military personnel have boarded an oil tanker named on a list of Russia's "shadow fleet" vessels and suspected of being a launchpad for mystery drone flights that forced the closure of airports in Denmark last week.

- Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor

Photos showed navy personnel on the deck of the tanker, known as the Boracay, which has used numerous identities and was one of four Russia-linked vessels in the seas near Denmark at the time of the drone sightings on 22 and 24 September, which so far have not been fully explained.

The tanker was sailing from the Russian oil terminal in Primorsk near St Petersburg, carrying 750,000 barrels of crude oil, to Vadinar in India, but was intercepted by a French naval vessel on Sunday and diverted towards Saint-Nazaire in western France while inquiries continue.

Earlier in the day it had been placed under investigation by the French public prosecutor, a move described by Emmanuel Macron as a "good thing". The Kremlin said it had no information about the tanker or the incident when asked.

Stéphane Kellenberger, the public prosector in Brest, in western France, said an investigation was taking place after the crew's "failure to justify the nationality of the vessel" and "refusal to cooperate".