New Delhi, Feb. 19 -- French authorities said Tuesday they released a tanker intercepted last month in the Mediterranean Sea which is suspected of being part of Russia's sanctioned shadow fleet shipping oil in violation of international sanctions.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in a post on X that the tanker Grinch is to leave French waters after having paid a penalty of "several million euros" and "three weeks of costly immobilization."

"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.

The French military diverted the ship last month and anchored it in the port of Fos-sur-Mer as part of an investigation i...