MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Moscow will respond to the interception of Russian vessels by France, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Dmitry Polyansky warned on the Soloviev Live talk show as he blasted the incident as an inadmissible provocation and "blatant lawlessness."

"Naturally, we will not tolerate such hostile actions and there will be a response to these provocations, I am confident. For such a practice is totally inadmissible," the Russian diplomat said.

Commenting on the incident, Polyansky noted that "all this falls in line with blatant broader lawlessness currently unfolding." Russia absolutely will not tolerate such developments, he reiterated.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the French Navy had boarded a tanker coming from Russia in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture said that an inspection of the Grinch tanker found a discrepancy in the registration data regarding the national identity of its operator, as a result of which it was escorted to a spot where it could safely anchor, while prosecutors in Marseilles have launched an investigation.