France opens investigation into Russian 'shadow' vessel

24 September, which so far have not been fully explained.

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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”.

Boracay, a Benin-flagged tanker, had just changed its name from Pushpa. Under that name, it was monitored sailing west around Denmark last week and was cited by naval experts as one of a handful of Russia-linked vessels that may have been involved in the drone incidents.