EMET NEWS PRESS

Why the Law of the Sea Has Become a Lever Against the Shadow Fleet

The legal justification under international law for this high-seas operation establishes a critical precedent. A boarding team from the Marine Nationale intercepted the 252-meter vessel approximately 400 nautical miles west of Brest after the tanker refused standard identification protocols. The Tagor was operating under a suspected fraudulent registration (false flag). Under Article 110 of UNCLOS, the reasonable suspicion of statelessness grants warships the Right of Visit.

The subsequent verification of irregular documents during the onboard inspection stripped the vessel of its ability to claim flag-state protection, enabling compulsory operational measures. By order of the competent public prosecutor, the tanker was escorted under military control to the port of Brest to initiate a comprehensive legal review of its cargo manifests and vessel identity.

Behind the Tagor lies a transnational, highly complex logistical infrastructure. Operational management is handled by UAE-based The Zulu Ships Management & Operation, a successor entity to the already sanctioned Fractal Marine DMCC. Western authorities link this corporate network to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of Iranian government advisor Ali Shamkhani.

This network utilizes shell companies to organize the transport of Russian crude oil from Murmansk primarily to Asian markets, systematically obscuring the origin of the financial flows. The owners' operational strategy relies on the continuous rotation of vessel names, ownership structures, and flag registrations (flag-hopping) to evade the jurisdiction of Western legal authorities.

The targeted personnel and state sanction regimes intersect directly in this case. The Russian master of the vessel, Captain Yuriy Levytskyy, has been under personal sanctions by Ukraine since April 2025. The vessel itself was designated by the United States in July 2025, the European Union in October 2025, and most recently in February of this year by the British Foreign Office. The recent listing by London provided the participating naval units with the critical intelligence necessary to track the tanker's movement profiles.

The interdiction follows a series of French actions targeting the shadow fleet, which include the previous detentions of the Boracay and the Deyna. However, the current diversion directly from international waters signals a shift in operational doctrine. While prior proceedings within territorial waters frequently concluded with the payment of administrative fines, the direct involvement of the public prosecutor in the case of the Tagor introduces a deeper judicial blockade. Paris and London are thus executing the strategy announced in March to systematically disrupt the maritime supply lines financing the Russian war effort.

Here is a concise glossary of the key operational and legal terms relevant to this report:

Operational & Legal Glossary

Article 110 UNCLOS (Right of Visit)

The specific provision under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that legally empowers a warship to board a foreign merchant vessel on the high seas if there is a justifiable suspicion that the vessel is stateless or engaging in fraudulent flag registration.

False Flag / Fraudulent Registration

The illegal practice of sailing under a nation's flag without valid registration or with forged documentation, which strips a vessel of flag-state protection and renders it legally stateless during an international inspection.

Flag-Hopping

A deceptive maritime tactic involving the rapid and frequent altering of a ship's flag registration to deliberately evade international tracking, sanctions, or regulatory inspections.

Maritime Interdiction

Active naval operations deployed to intercept, inspect, or divert non-compliant and sanctioned vessels in international waters, transitioning from passive monitoring into physical enforcement.

Shadow Fleet

An opaque network of commercially masked, aging merchant tankers operating under flags of convenience, utilized by sanctioned states to bypass international price caps and move restricted energy products globally.

The Shamkhani Network

A sophisticated web of maritime shell entities and front companies based in the UAE, linked by investigators to Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, used to disguise the ownership and financial trails of restricted crude oil shipments.

Documented Sources

1. Sovereign & Military Directives

French Presidency (Élysée Palace) – Official executive declaration by President Emmanuel Macron.

Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic (Brest) – Operational command communiqué on the high-seas intercept.

2. Sanction Registries & Regulatory Frameworks

UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) – Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets.

US Department of the Treasury (OFAC) – Sanctions registry on Fractal Marine DMCC and network operators.

European Union Sanctions Portal – Official Journal entries tracking G7 price cap non-compliance.

3. Maritime Analytics & Verification Channels

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Registry – Global vessel database for Hull 9282481.

Allied Naval Tracking Networks – Bilateral intelligence dispatches on transit and route profiles.