France has freed an oil tanker suspected of being part of Russia's secret 'shadow fleet' used to evade sanctions. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that the vessel named Grinch was "leaving French waters" after paying a fine of "several million euros." The tanker was seized in the Mediterranean in January and taken to Marseille. The ship had sailed from Murmansk in northern Russia and flew under a Comoros flag, officials said. The shadow fleet is a hidden network of older tankers that Russia uses to bypass Western sanctions on oil exports imposed after the Ukraine invasion in 2022. "Circumventing European sanctions comes at a price. Russia will no longer be able to finance its war with impunity through a ghost fleet off our coasts," Barrot said on the social media platform X. The vessel stayed immobilized for three weeks in Fos-sur-Mer and had to pay a costly penalty. Authorities added that the vessel's owning company was fined in a Marseille court through a guilty plea process, but the exact amount remains undisclosed. Shadow fleets are growing fast. TankerTrackers.com estimates about 1,468 vessels now operate secretly, nearly triple the number before Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine. These ships are mostly old, often poorly maintained, and change ownership, names, and flags frequently to hide their identities. Global efforts to stop shadow fleets have increased with several sanctioned tankers seized recently. In January, British forces helped the US seize a Russian-flagged tanker accused of carrying oil for Venezuela and Russia. Russia condemned the seizure, saying no state has the right to use force against legally registered vessels.