PARIS, April 16. /TASS/. Authorities in France have lifted the arrest of the tanker Deyna after a fine was paid, and the vessel has already left the country’s territorial waters, the Mediterranean maritime prefecture said.
According to the statement, on April 15 a court in Marseille ruled against the ship’s owner and ordered it to pay a fine for "failure to provide proof of the vessel’s registration (absence of a flag)." The amount has already been transferred to the Agency for the Management and Recovery of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC). The company has also undertaken to obtain a new flag as soon as possible, French authorities said.
Throughout its passage until exiting waters under France’s sovereignty and jurisdiction, Deyna remains under the supervision of the competent maritime authorities led by the Mediterranean maritime prefect, the statement said.
On March 20, the French Navy carried out an operation in the western Mediterranean Sea targeting the oil tanker Deyna, which was sailing under the flag of Mozambique and had departed from Murmansk, the prefecture reported. French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the vessel was part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow would use all available instruments to ensure respect for the principle of freedom of navigation in response to what she described as EU actions at sea.