President Vladimir Putin on Thursday condemned France’s detention of a Russian-linked ship as “piracy”, vowing a “significant” response to what he called European threats as tension flared.
The Russian leader’s warning came after the French navy on Saturday detained and boarded an oil tanker that has been blacklisted by the European Union for being part of Russia’s sanction-busting “shadow fleet”.
The ship, the Boracay, has been linked to mysterious drone flights over Denmark last month, including military sites, part of a recent spate of drone sightings and airspace violations in European countries blamed on Russia – though Moscow denies responsibility.
The airspace incidents are adding to tension between European nations and Moscow, already riding high over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged European countries to do more to thwart Moscow’s efforts to skirt Western sanctions, telling a summit in Denmark that Europe needed to “kill the business model” of using ageing, foreign-flagged tankers to transport Russian oil by detaining such ships.
