Belgian army seizes oil tanker from Russian shadow fleet
The Belgian army, with support from the French army, has seized an oil tanker from the Russian shadow fleet. The ship, so called the Ethera, was flying the flag of Guinea but was part of the Russian shadow fleet and is on the European Union’s sanctions list. Defence minister Theo Francken that 'Operation Blue Intruder' was carried out by "a team of exceptionally brave soldiers." In his message, which also included an image of a tanker, Francken thanked Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V), Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés), and his French counterpart Catherine Vautrin.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) congratulated "our armed forces for their professional and decisive action during last night's successful operation" and thanked the French partners "for their valuable support." "Belgium will always uphold international maritime law and respond decisively to any violation of the security of its territorial waters”, he wrote on X.
According to Defence chief Frederik Vansina, Belgium had been monitoring the Ethera for some time. The oil tanker gave “much indication of its participation in the operations of the shadow fleet”, including by frequently sailing between Russia and South America, regularly disabling its identification systems and sailing under different flags.
