Russian oil tanker, the Grinch, intercepted as US, allies escalate sanctions crackdown

The French navy intercepted a Russian oil tanker in the Mediterranean suspected of operating as part of Moscow’s shadow fleet, a network of falsely-flagged vessels used to export oil and avoid Western sanctions, according to reports.

President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that French forces had boarded and searched the tanker, which is subject to international sanctions. 

The ship was reportedly sailing from Murmansk, in northern Russia, under the Comoros flag.

Writing on X, Macron said the operation took place on the high seas in the Mediterranean with the support of several allied countries.

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The French president added that the vessel had been diverted for further checks.

The tanker, identified as the Grinch, was intercepted between the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco in the western Mediterranean, French maritime police said. 

The Associated Press reported the interception.

France and the U.K. gathered and shared intelligence on the vessel, according to French military officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

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The interception is the latest in a growing number of Russian-linked vessels stopped by U.S. and European authorities in recent months as Western powers intensify efforts to disrupt Russia’s oil exports.

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, in early January, U.S. forces seized another sanctioned tanker in the Atlantic Ocean.

U.S. European Command (EUCOM) announced the seizure of the Russian-flagged Marinera oil tanker in the North Atlantic Sea.

France’s Mediterranean Maritime Prefecture said the team that boarded the Grinch Thursday had inspected the vessel and decided documents raised doubts about the regularity of the vessel’s flag.

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The tanker is being escorted by the French navy to an anchorage for additional verification.

The European Union has imposed 19 rounds of sanctions on Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

Despite those measures, Russia has continued to export millions of barrels of oil, mainly to China and India and often at discounted prices.

What has become known as a “shadow fleet” consists of hundreds of old and poorly regulated tankers that change names, ownership structures and flags to avoid detection and sanctions.

Maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence estimates the global shadow fleet at about 1,400 tankers, many of which are subject to U.S., British or European sanctions, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized European countries for not doing more to stop the transport of Russian oil using sanctioned vessels and which he says helps fund the war in Ukraine.

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“Why can [U.S. President Donald Trump] stop tankers of the ‘shadow fleet’ and seize their oil, while Europe can’t?” Zelensky asked at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday.

“Russian oil is transported right along the European coast. This oil funds the war against Ukraine. This oil helps destabilize Europe.”

Zelenskyy blasts global inaction on Iran, claims Europe stuck in ‘Greenland mode’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Thursday that global inaction toward Iran and other authoritarian regimes is fueling mounting security threats, accusing Europe of relying on symbolism instead of real power at a moment of escalating danger.

“Europe still feels more like geography, history, tradition — not a real political force, not a great power,” he said during an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, just after meeting with President Donald Trump on negotiations over the war with Russia. Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia Thursday.

Zelenskyy criticized leaders who talk about standing strong while waiting for others to define the limits.

“Many say, ‘We must stand strong,’ but they want someone else to tell them how long they need to stand strong — preferably until the next election,” Zelenskyy said.

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Without decisive action, he warned, Europe will remain reactive.

“If Europe’s actions don’t scare bad actors, Europe will always be reacting, always catching up,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader also criticized global inaction in Iran amid a mass protest movement against its regime.

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“As for Iran, everyone is waiting to see what America will do,” Zelenskyy said. “And Europe offers almost nothing.”

He warned that refusing to support people fighting for freedom carries long-term consequences, arguing that Western delay repeatedly empowers hostile regimes.

“When you refuse to help people fighting for freedom, the consequences always come back — and they are always negative,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy pointed to Belarus as a warning of what happens when Europe fails to act early. After mass protests against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in 2020, Western governments declined to intervene decisively. 

Russia later deployed missiles to Belarusian territory, now within range of major European capitals.

“No one helped their people,” Zelenskyy said. “Now Russian missiles are deployed in Belarus.”

He said the continent “still remains in Greenland mode,” pointing to symbolic military gestures that fail to deter adversaries.

“If you send 30 or 40 soldiers to Greenland, what message does that send — to Russia, to China, and even to Denmark?” Zelenskyy asked. “Forty soldiers will not protect anything.”

Zelenskyy said European leaders privately question whether NATO, and especially the United States, would respond decisively if Russia attacked a NATO member state such as Poland.

“To believe that the United States will act — that it will not stand aside and will help,” he said. “But what if it doesn’t? This question is everywhere in the minds of European leaders.”

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Relying on faith rather than preparedness, he warned, is dangerous.

“Faith in a lucky turn of events cannot stop force,” Zelenskyy said.

He warned that Russia’s missile production depends on foreign components, even from those aiding Ukraine.

“Russia would not be able to build ballistic or cruise missiles without critical components from other countries,” Zelenskyy said. “It’s not only China. Russia gets components from companies in Europe, the United States and Taiwan.”

“How many are investing in stability around Taiwan to avoid war?” he asked. “But can Taiwanese companies stop building electronics for Russia’s war?”

“Europe says almost nothing. America says nothing. And Putin makes missiles.”

Cutting off those supply chains, he argued, would be more effective than relying solely on missile defenses.

“It would be cheaper and easier to stop the components than to keep intercepting missiles,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy concluded by framing Ukraine as Europe’s frontline defense, warning that European security is inseparable from Ukraine’s survival.

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“You need Ukraine’s independence too, because tomorrow you may have to defend your own way of life,” he said.

“You can’t build a new world order out of words,” Zelenskyy added. “Only actions build a real order.”

Witkoff and Kushner scheduled to meet Putin in Moscow

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said he and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to discuss a potential peace deal that would end the country’s nearly four-year war with Ukraine.

″[There’s been] lots of progress in the last six to eight weeks,” Witkoff told CNBC, referring to a possible peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

When asked about whether he believed Putin would come to a deal to end the war, Witkoff told CNBC that he is optimistic and has a “sense that everybody wants a peace there, that it’s time.”

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A White House official confirmed to Fox News that Kushner and Witkoff will meet with Putin on Thursday in Russia.

A spokesperson with the Kremlin also confirmed the meeting to Russian state media outlet TASS.

“We expect such a meeting tomorrow; it’s on the president’s schedule,” the spokesperson reportedly said. “It will take place tomorrow.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy will reportedly meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday in Davos, according to Axios.

“I think Russia wants to make a deal, I think Ukraine wants to make a deal. I think I can say we are relatively close,” Trump told the crowd at Davos.

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This will not be Witkoff and Kushner’s first meeting with Putin in Moscow. The two held a five-hour meeting with Putin in December, though they were not able to yield any major breakthroughs.

Representatives of the U.S. and Russia held talks in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders are gathered for the World Economic Forum, according to Reuters, which added that Washington’s envoys also met with Ukrainian and European leaders. Envoys for Putin and Trump said the talks were “very positive” and “constructive.”

“Dialogue is constructive and more and more people understand the fairness of Russian position,” Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said after the talks in Davos, Reuters reported.

Last month, Witkoff and Kushner spoke with Zelenskyy, who expressed optimism after the talks.

“Today we had a very good conversation with President Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and [Jared Kushner]. I thank them for the constructive approach, the intensive work, and the kind words and Christmas greetings to the Ukrainian people,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “We are truly working 24/7 to bring closer the end of this brutal Russian war against Ukraine and to ensure that all documents and steps are realistic, effective, and reliable.”

Feb. 24 will mark four years since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a war that has drawn international attention. Trump has blamed both Putin and Zelenskyy for prolonging the war, saying at various times that one of the two leaders was seemingly not ready to reach a deal.

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While the issue of territory has long been a major sticking point, with Zelenskyy repeatedly opposing any land concessions, Witkoff told CNBC that “land deals” remain on the table.

The Trump administration has worked to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine for over a year. Trump has met with both Zelenskyy and Putin, though those meetings did not appear to make major shifts to the peace process.

Graham says Russia sanctions bill ‘never going back on the shelf’ after Trump backs push

The bipartisan push for sanctions against Russia has, for several months, ebbed and flowed on waves of speculation about whether legislation would actually get a vote.

A signal or suggestion of support from President Donald Trump would often push the bill from Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., closer to fruition, only to be swept back into churning, murky waters with no clear path on when or if the package would make its way to the president’s desk.

Now, Trump has given Graham the “greenlight” to move ahead with his long-simmering sanctions package as peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine continue to simmer in the background.

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Graham told Fox News Digital that this time around, he believed the bill would actually get a shot.

“It’s never going back on the shelf because President Trump believes he needs it,” Graham said. “I think he needs it.”

But it has been over a week since Graham announced the president backed the package, and so far, it has yet to make it to the floor in the upper chamber. Lawmakers are also out this week and are set to return to Washington, D.C., next week with the primary objective of preventing a partial government shutdown.

Still, the bipartisan duo has been tweaking the legislation over the last several months, but the core objective would be to slap eye-popping tariffs onto countries buying energy products from Moscow.

The intent is to cripple Russia’s war machine by imposing duties on oil, gas, uranium and other exports, largely purchased by China and India, which account for nearly three-quarters of Moscow’s energy business.

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The package has been on the back burner as the Trump administration works to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The latest iteration of that agreement generally included provisions that would have required Ukraine to give up territory to Russia, a non-starter for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trump told Reuters during an interview published last week that it was Zelenskyy holding up negotiations toward a peace deal and contended that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “ready to make a deal,” while Ukraine was “less ready to make a deal.”

While the package hasn’t dislodged itself onto the floor in the upper chamber, a White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital that Trump supports the legislation.

But one issue that threatens to trip up the process once more is where the package actually starts in Congress.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., doubled down on his position that any Russia sanctions package, despite being labored on in the Senate for several months, should start in the House, given the budgetary impact it could have.

That would require buy-in from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to either replicate Graham and Blumenthal’s proposal, or craft their own. Then it would need to hit the House floor, which could take longer than lawmakers in the upper chamber are willing to wait.

On whether Johnson said he would put it on the floor, Thune said, “He hasn’t.”

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“But my guess is that if it’s something that, you know, the White House — it’s important to them, it’s a priority, particularly dealing with Russia and Ukraine, I would assume that they would try and do that,” he said.

That’s where there’s a disconnect.

Johnson supports Russia sanctions but has said on multiple occasions that he believes a sanctions bill should originate in the Senate.

He has argued that starting the legislation in the House would drastically slow down its progress, given the numerous committees any package would have to pass through before ever hitting the floor for a vote.

Graham believed that the “sense of urgency now is the greatest it’s been” and noted that he has told Thune that he wants the legislation to start in the Senate, where it has over 80 co-sponsors.

“This is where the idea came from, get a big bipartisan vote and try to get President Trump to use these tools coming from the Congress so we can end this bloodbath,” Graham said.

“Now, in a normal world it would, but I just think the momentum is in the Senate,” he continued. “We can take a shell — It’s not that hard. I mean, I’ve been working my a– [off] on this thing for over a year, or whatever how long it’s been.”

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Blumenthal told Fox News Digital that he had been speaking with his colleagues in the lower chamber and added that there’s “no reason” that the package should get bogged down or tripped up in the House.

Blumenthal and Graham view their sanctions push as providing Trump with another weapon to force Putin to the negotiating table.

He argued that “security is the linchpin here, but forcing Putin to come to the table also involves economic pressure, and ultimately, we want peace, and that will involve both economic and military security.”

“I feel very, very encouraged, because I think that a lot is coming together,” Blumenthal said.

Russia plots major strike on Europe’s largest nuclear plant power lines: source

Russia is preparing to target Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant’s power lines in a move that could unfold within days, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Ukrainian officials had said Moscow’s plan was focused on high-voltage transmission infrastructure rather than direct strikes on nuclear reactors, but a source has since claimed the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lines (ZNPP) are Moscow’s focus.

In a statement released Jan. 17, the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry (HUR) had warned that Russia was weighing attacks on substations critical to nuclear power generation.

“In order to force Ukraine to sign unacceptable surrender demands to end the war, the aggressor state Russia is considering the option of attacking strategic facilities of our state’s energy system — we are talking about electricity transmission substations that ensure the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants.”

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“The threat is at ZNPP,” a source told Fox News Digital. “There are talks of a massive attack either tonight or in the coming nights,” the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that “the talks within the Ukrainian government are about ZNPP and the lines, and these talks have not been for the first time.”

According to The Associated Press, Russia also targeted energy infrastructure in Odesa region overnight Sunday, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service.

ZNPP is located in southern Ukraine and consists of six VVER-1000 pressurized water reactors, and has been under Russian occupation since March 2022, according to reports.

Although the reactors are no longer producing electricity, the plant needs external power to maintain cooling and safety systems. 

The IAEA has repeatedly warned that disruptions to off-site power supplies and lines pose a serious nuclear safety risk.

A Jan. 16 localized ceasefire was agreed between Russia and Ukraine for repairs under IAEA coordination on one backup power line at ZNPP that had already been damaged.

In a statement, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Jan. 16: “The IAEA continues to work closely with both sides to ensure nuclear safety at the ZNPP and to prevent a nuclear accident during the conflict. This temporary ceasefire, the fourth we have negotiated, demonstrates the indispensable role that we continue to play.”

“A deterioration of Ukraine’s power grid from persistent military activity has direct implications on the nuclear safety of its nuclear facilities,” Grossi said.

“Russia is said to be going to do this strike, maybe even tonight,” the source said of the ZNPP operation.

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“Information also from the Ukrainian Parliament and Ukrainian Security Service, or internally, is that the Russian army told the Ukrainian army that if they don’t stop shelling their tankers in the sea or shelling their oil refineries, as well as their electric stations like power stations,” the source said, “then they will fully destroy Kyiv energy facilities aswell.”

“The parliament knows this. But we keep shelling,” the source added.

“This is a very difficult situation,” the source continued, saying Ukrainian leadership, the Ukrainian parliament and “obviously the office of the president” are fully aware that “if we keep shelling Russian tankers and oil refineries, then they will destroy everything that we have.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also recently urged NATO allies to urgently deliver additional air-defense missiles, warning that some systems are running low on ammunition, according to reports.

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“To actually preserve the energy in the country when it is minus 20 outside and people are literally suffering hugely,” the source added. “People don’t have electricity, don’t have warmth and some don’t even have water.”

“And this is a very controversial situation,” the source said, “particularly for the Ukrainian people sitting inside, hungry and freezing, and overall being in this disastrous humanitarian situation.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to President Zelenskyy’s office for comment.