The tanker was boarded by French soldiers earlier this week because it was on a list of vessels subject to EU sanctions for carrying Russian oil exports. The captain of an oil tanker believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” of vessels used to evade sanctions has been charged by French authorities. To evade these sanctions, Moscow has built up what has been referred to as a “shadow fleet” of tankers whose ownership and movements could be obscured. French President Emmanuel Macron has said Russia’s shadow fleet contained between 600 and 1,000 ships. The separate question of whether the tanker was used to launch last week’s drone incursion into Danish airspace remains unresolved.