The Kremlin on Monday accused France of “international piracy” and warned of retaliatory measures to ensure shipping safety, after President Emmanuel Macron announced the French navy had boarded a sanctioned Russian oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean.
In response to the incident, which occurred on Sunday, Moscow formally requested information from Paris. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov strongly condemned the seizure of the vessel, identified as the Tajor.
“Russia does not see that international law was followed. We consider such actions illegal; they are akin to international piracy,” Peskov said, adding that Russia “will take measures to ensure maritime shipping safety” in response to the event.
Macron, posting on the social media platform X on Monday, stated that the operation took place on the high seas with the support of several partners, including the United Kingdom, and was conducted in strict compliance with the law of the sea.
“It is unacceptable that ships circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and fund the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years,” Macron said.
The incident follows earlier warnings from Moscow. In February, a Kremlin aide stated that Russia could deploy its naval fleet to prevent the seizure of its vessels and might take retaliatory action against European shipping traffic if Russian ships were detained. Furthermore, the Russian state news agency TASS recently reported Moscow’s position that Europe’s continued support for Ukraine is rapidly steering the continent towards a direct military conflict with Russia.
The maritime escalation occurs alongside shifting dynamics in the broader war. Speaking at a press conference following a visit to Kazakhstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the battlefield situation indicates the conflict is nearing its conclusion, according to the Sputnik news agency.
However, Putin declined to provide a definitive timeline. “Setting specific timeframes in a military conflict is impossible,” he said, adding that such a move would be reckless and is rarely done in practice.
Putin further alleged that “global corruption networks” are profiting from the continuation of the war and are using their media influence to compel European public opinion to support Kyiv, despite his assertion that Ukraine cannot defeat Russia.
Conversely, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials have stated that the Russian ground advance has slowed. Concurrently, Ukraine has intensified its campaign of medium- and long-range strikes inside Russia, primarily targeting the Russian oil sector.
In an interview with CBS News, Zelensky claimed that the momentum shifted late last year. “It started in December 2025, when Russia started losing the initiative on the battlefield,” he said. “So, we now have this time period before winter… we need to find a diplomatic way to sit down and talk.”
Efforts to reach a resolution remain stalled, however, as peace talks mediated by the United States have been paused while Washington focuses its attention on the conflict in Iran.