Recently, the French Navy openly intercepted and detained the Russian oil tanker "Bolakay" (also known as "Long Beach") in the high seas of the Bay of Biscay. However, after Russia condemned it, it was released in less than 48 hours. The tanker carried 110,000 tons of Russian crude oil bound for India. The French side said that it released the tanker because no evidence of contraband was found. However, the Chinese captain and first mate on board were briefly detained, and at the same time, a summons was issued to the Chinese captain, asking him to appear in court in France in February 2026.

However, as soon as the Chinese side has not been able to do so, the British media "Observers" can't look at it, directly denouncing the French action as a "political slander", and start to mock the French military.

The cause of the incident was that on October 1, French special forces inspected the Russian tanker "Boracay" in the high seas on suspicion of "violation of EU sanctions" and "possibly related to the Danish drone incident". The tanker hanging the flag of the Benin, under the "shadow fleet" formed by Russia to circumvent sanctions, flew from Russia's Primorsk port to the port of Vadinal in India. French President Macron called the move a "important action", but the Russian side responded "not grasp the relevant situation" and accused France of "piracy".

After subsequent searches found no contraband, France released the tanker on October 3 to continue heading for India. However, France issued a summons to the China captain accusing him of "refusing to obey instructions" and asked him to appear in court in February 2026. It can be seen that although the crew was not personally injured, the voyage plan was interrupted and faced potential legal disputes.

Then the French move is obviously informal, and also kicked the iron board, on the one hand, the British media mocked the French operation "thunder and rain", questioning its not only dared to completely seize the Russian tanker, because Europe relies on Russian energy, but also tried to "return the face" by judging the Chinese captain.

On the other hand, Russia warned that it would take reciprocal countermeasures, possibly targeting French merchant ships or energy supplies. And more importantly, as a buyer of crude oil, if France forcibly interferes with commercial shipping, it will definitely arouse the latter's dissatisfaction and even affect its military-trade relations with France, such as Rafale fighter orders. This is not what France wants to see. result.

But from the viewpoint of this French action, the political symbolism is greater than the actual effect, because the French action is intended to try to show the gesture of a "hard leader against Russia" within the European Union, especially in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the impasse and the limited effect of Western sanctions.

On the one hand, due to energy dependence constraints, Europe is still difficult to completely get rid of Russian energy. If Russia implements countermeasures (such as cutting off natural gas supplies), Europe will completely face the pressure of soaring domestic energy prices. On the other hand, the legal basis is weak. The arrest of civilian ships on the high seas lacks United Nations authorization. The EU's unilateral sanctions alone cannot form an international legal basis. Therefore, the French army's move has no legitimacy.

But what I didn't expect was that all the ships and people were released. France also asked the Chinese captain to appear in court, but I personally don't think it will appear in court in the end, because the French action itself is not a legal act, and this legal action against the Chinese captain may be intended to divert domestic attention and test China's reaction. Moreover, the incident involves India's energy interests. If France exerts excessive pressure, it may undermine its cooperation with India in the field of defense. Therefore, France's move is also to find a step down for itself.

But in any case, it is also a further reminder to Russia that energy exports to the east need to be accelerated, that Russia may turn more crude oil trade to Asian buyers such as India and China, and avoid Western interception through the Arctic route (protected by the Russian military).

And France is also clear that if it does not hold back, it will undoubtedly undermine the global shipping rules, if countries follow French unilateral actions in the open sea, global trade security will be threatened, then anyone can hold back the French ships, right?