MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. Russia considers the detention of its tanker vessel by France as an illegal move that borders on acts of piracy, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"We consider such actions illegal, as they amount to international piracy," Peskov said at a press briefing.

French President Emmanuel Macron stated earlier that the French Navy, backed by the UK and other partners, had detained a sanctioned tanker sailing from Russia in the Atlantic Ocean. According to unconfirmed information, the captain of the Tagor tanker seized by the French Navy is a Russian national, the Russian Embassy in Paris announced to TASS.

According to the VesselFinder monitoring service, the Tagor oil tanker flied the flag of Madagascar and it made its latest port call in Russia’s Murmansk in early May, the service’s website specified.