Captain of oil tanker linked to Russia's shadow fleet will face trial in France

The captain of an oil tanker immobilized off the country’s Atlantic coast which President Emmanuel Macron linked to Russia will go on trial in February over the crew's alleged refusal to cooperate, a French prosecutor said Thursday. Macron has alleged that the tanker belongs to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers of uncertain ownership that are avoiding Western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine and didn't rule out that it could have been involved in drone flights over Denmark as it was sailing last week off the coast of the Nordic country. Asked about whether the tanker could be linked to drones flights, Macron said that “I’m very cautious because our services and our justice are still working ... I don’t exclude it at all, but I cannot here attribute very clearly and establish a clear link between these two phenomenon.”