The French Navy has seized a suspected shadow fleet tanker on Monday in the Indian Ocean, marking the fifth interception this year, US Naval Institute news reported on 13 October 2026..
French forces intercepted and seized oil tanker MT DF Peak (IMO: 9341067), which was suspected of sailing a false flag and being involved in illicit fuel transportation activities. DF Peak was intercepted 450 nautical miles south of Réunion, a French territory island in the Indian Ocean located east of Madagascar and southwest of Mauritius.
DF Peak is sanctioned by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Switzerland, U.K. and Ukraine. Previously operating under the name of Kaliningrad and owned by a Russian company, DF Peak is now under the ownership of Hong Kong Ding Feng Shipping and flies a Benin flag.
“France is determined to combat the ghost fleet, wherever it may be in the world,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an X post announcing the interception.
Macron’s announcement included a short clip of a French Navy boarding party rappelling onto the tanker from a French Navy AS365 Dauphin helicopter.
The operation was led by the French Joint Staff, which said the interception and boarding were meant to verify DF Peak’s flag. The French Armed Forces in the South Indian Ocean Zone (FAZSOI) command, operating from Réunion and the French overseas territory island of Mayotte, is responsible for operations in the area. The French Navy has two surveillance frigates – FS Floréal(F730) and FS Nivôse (F732) – and three offshore patrol vessels and support ships assigned to the command and based in Réunion.
According to the French Joint Staff, the boarding team discovered irregularities in the ship’s document on inspection. The public prosecutor requested for the tanker to be diverted under escort by naval forces. The French Joint Staff also posted images of the operation, showing a sailor observing the tanker from a French Navy ship, the tanker being boarded and a helicopter surveillance camera image of the tanker.
DF Peak, under escort by French Navy ships, is headed towards an anchorage off Réunion for further investigation, the French Prefect of Réunion said. The 21 crew members on the tanker remain onboard under supervision by French military personnel.
The operation marks the fifth suspected shadow fleet tanker seizure this year by the French Navy. MT Grinch (IMO: 9288851) was intercepted in January and MT Deyna (IMO: 9299903) in March, both in the Mediterranean. MT Tagor (IMO: 9282481) was intercepted in the Atlantic in early June and MT Deliver(IMO: 9194983) in the Mediterranean in mid-June. A joint operation in March by Belgium and France announced the seizure of MT Ethera (IMO: 9387279) in the North Sea and U.K. forces in June seized MT Smyrtos (IMO: 9389100) in the English Channel in June.
Article 110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea allows naval forces to inspect and verify a ship’s right to fly its flag. Russia has argued that Art. 110 does not give the authority to divert and detain ships.
The Russian Embassy in France called the interception a blatant act of “piracy and robbery.” The Russian Embassy in France, on its Telegram account, issued a statement saying that France has not informed the embassy of the seizure and the embassy was verifying whether there were Russian nationals on the tanker.
“We wish to reiterate that the actions of the French Navy, which seized the oil tanker ‘DF Peak’ on the high seas, constitute a flagrant violation of international law,” said the Embassy. “Any reference to Article 110 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to justify this interception, as well as any claim that the tanker allegedly violated ‘international sanctions,’ which are in reality nothing more than illegitimate unilateral measures, is merely a smokescreen intended to conceal a blatant act of piracy and armed robbery.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously threatened to conduct reciprocal actions in regard to such seizures. So far, Russia’s response has been limited to naval escorts for Russian flagged merchant shipping.
In an Aug. 12 meeting with Russian Navy Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Victor Liina on board cruiser RFS Varyag (011), Putin said that Russia would be forced to respond to such actions and orders had been issued to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
During an Oct. 1 forum in Moscow, Putin stated that Russia could carry out retaliatory actions anywhere around the world’s oceans.
“You spoke of attempts to detain our ships. Yes, that is, of course, a violation. I was in the Far East – you have surely seen it – but the world’s oceans do not end with the Baltic and North Atlantic regions; there are other areas of the world’s oceans. And we will act symmetrically – perhaps in the Baltic and the Atlantic, or perhaps in the Pacific, somewhere else, in the Indian Ocean, I do not know. Wherever it is more advantageous for us, that is where we will act,” Putin said in response to a question on flag verification operations according to a Kremlin transcript.
