France has seized a cargo ship in the English Channel that Washington says was linked to the son of a former Russian spy chief, in one of the first visible displays of the West enforcing sanctions on Moscow over its Ukraine invasion.
The “Baltic Leader” was headed for St Petersburg but was diverted to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France on Saturday afternoon (AEDT), Captain Veronique Magnin of the French Maritime Prefecture told Reuters.
A Russian flag cargo ship docks in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, northern France on Saturday.Credit:AP
The vessel was “strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by the sanctions,” she said.
The US Treasury Department has issued blocking sanctions against the vessel because, according to Treasury, it was owned by a subsidiary of Russian lender Promsvyazbank, one of the Russian entities hit by US sanctions.
The bank’s CEO, Pyotr Fradkov, is the son of Mikhail Fradkov, a former head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, who also served as prime minister under Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pyotr Fradkov was himself included in the latest round of U.S. sanctions.
Promsvyazbank, in a comment sent to Reuters, said its subsidiary no longer owns the Baltic Leader, and that it was bought by a different entity before the sanctions were imposed.
The Russian embassy in Paris will send a note of protest to the French foreign ministry over the seizure, the embassy said.
Reuters
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