Here, we analyze in depth the recent order issued by the three French maritime prefects concerning the TS Shtandart. This text goes far beyond the single Kombat-Tour cruise planned along the Breton coasts. It constitutes a complete reversal in the handling of the Russian vessel by the authorities and could put an end, in France, to the captain’s repeated attempts to circumvent European sanctions.

Inter-prefectoral decree of March 5, 2026: « …In view of the ban on access to the ports of the European Union mentioned above, the organization of a cruise for tourism purposes involving access to French inland waters and the port facilities located there cannot be considered…»

Summary

Following the sanctions adopted after the invasion of Ukraine, an order signed on 5 March 2026 (en) by the three French maritime prefects. It now strictly regulates the navigation of the Russian three-masted ship TS Shtandart (MMSI 518999255) (en) in all metropolitan French waters. The text prohibits the vessel from accessing internal waters — notably ports, roadsteads and estuaries — and limits its presence in the territorial sea to innocent passage, without stopping or anchoring.

This measure constitutes a decisive obstacle to organizing commercial cruises along the French coasts. It also prevents the vessel from being chartered for nautical events. This decision comes while an excursion between La Rochelle and Saint-Malo, with several stopovers in Brittany, is being marketed for June 2026 by the Russian travel agency Kombat-Tour.

➡️ Read the full text, in English, of the decree concerning the Shtandart
➡️ Voir cet article en français

---

• 1. At the origins of the Inter-Prefectoral Order
• 2. An Order Covering the Entire French Coastline
• 3. A Break with the Practices Observed Since 2022
• 4. The Question of Enforcement
• 5. Vladimir Martus, Captain of the TS Shtandart, Will He Comply with These New Rules?
• Conclusion

---

1. At the origins of the Inter-Prefectoral Order

Between July and September 2025, seven European states refused access (en) to the TS Shtandart: Ireland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. With the exception of La Rochelle, none of the 14 commercial stopovers (en) announced for summer 2025 could be carried out. The TS Shtandart was also not authorized to participate in the Tall Ships Races (en) .

On 22 August 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (en) definitively confirmed that the Russian three-masted ship TS Shtandart fell within the scope of port sanctions since 16 April 2022 (en).

On 31 October 2025, the TS Shtandart announced a cruise between La Rochelle and Saint-Malo. It planned stopovers at Belle-Île, Camaret and the Sept-Îles between 21 and 30 June 2026. This activity is marketed by the travel agency Kombat-Tour, based in Smolensk, Russia. Kombat-Tour: 21–30 June 2026, aboard the frigate “Shtandart”, family cruise along the French coasts (ru).

The collective No Shtandart in Europe alerted the company Kombat-Tour several times to the legal risks affecting its program. It copied these letters to the maritime prefect of Brest as well as to the prefects of the departments of Finistère, Côtes-d’Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine.

• No Shtandart in Europe, 6 November 2025 – Kombat Tour – Warning on the legal risks linked to navigation aboard the frigate “Shtandart” in European waters  (en)
• No Shtandart in Europe, 26 November 2025 – The “Shtandart” and European sanctions: second formal warning to Kombat-Tour (en)
• No Shtandart in Europe, 2 December 2025 – The “Shtandart” and European sanctions: third formal warning to Kombat-Tour (en)

On 25 November 2025, the journalist Paul Bohec published, in Le Télégramme, a detailed article on this navigation project. To do so, he questioned Kombat-Tour, which did not respond, the maritime prefecture of Brest, Vladimir Martus, the captain and de facto owner of the TS Shtandart, as well as Thierry Clerc, the latter’s lawyer.

See: Le Télégramme, 25 November 2025 – A Russian travel agency organizes a cruise around Brittany aboard the Shtandart… banned from access to European ports (en)

Le Télégramme, Paul Bohec, 25 November 2025: The Shtandart “is subject to a ban on docking in European ports”, as confirmed by the French authorities contacted on the subject… The maritime prefecture explains that it was informed “neither by the travel agency nor by the captain of the Shtandart of their intention to organize the cruise”. “The authorities are currently studying the situation in order to decide on the measures to be implemented if this cruise is confirmed”, it concludes.

The information was then taken up by Le Parisien, on 30 November 2025 (en), and by the TF1 TV Morning News, on 2 December (fr).

The collective No Shtandart in Europe again contacted the DG FISMA (Sanctions unit) of the European Commission.

• No Shtandart in Europe, 17 December 2025 – Request for intervention by the European Commission concerning a failure to implement port sanctions in France  – Morbihan and Charente-Maritime  (French departments) (en)
• No Shtandart in Europe, 18 December 2025 – Pre-notification under Article 258 TFEU — Failure by France to ensure the effective implementation of EU restrictive measures (port access and services) concerning the Russian vessel Shtandart (en)

2. An Order Covering the Entire French Coastline

An order published on 5 March 2026 now strictly regulates the navigation of the TS Shtandart throughout all metropolitan French waters.

The text applies to:

• territorial waters,
• internal waters,
• ports,
• and shores.

The decree is signed by three general officers representing the highest operational command of the French Navy:

• Vice Admiral (squadron command) Benoît de Guibert, Maritime Prefect of the English Channel and the North Sea
• Vice Admiral (squadron command) Jean-François Quérat, Maritime Prefect of the Atlantic and Commander-in-Chief of the Maritime Forces on the Atlantic coast
• Vice Admiral (squadron command) Christophe Lucas, Maritime Prefect of the Mediterranean and Commander-in-Chief of the Maritime Forces on the Mediterranean coast

This joint signature is unusual, as it concerns only a single ship. It gives the decree a national scope covering the entire metropolitan coastline. The online publication of the document is also unusual. This highlights the strategic and political importance of the decision. The TS Shtandart has become a national matter.

3. A Break with the Practices Observed Since 2022

Before this decree, the application of European sanctions has given rise to several administrative interpretations in France. In principle, the order amounts to prohibiting any normal interaction between the vessel and French territory.

Such a situation effectively conflicts with the marketing of cruises along the country’s coasts. Several concrete provisions reflect this shift.

3.1. Prohibition in Internal Waters

The TS Shtandart is now prohibited from entering French internal waters. These include port areas, but also roadsteads, bays and estuaries located landward of the baselines (en).

Among these zones are notably:

• the Loire estuary,
• the Gulf of Morbihan,
• Douarnenez Bay,
• the Brest roadstead,
• the Cherbourg roadstead…

Unlike the territorial sea, foreign vessels do not enjoy an automatic right of innocent passage in internal waters. The State may therefore prohibit access to them.

This provision makes it inconceivable for the TS Shtandart to participate in maritime gatherings such as the Gulf week (Semaine du Golfe) (en), in which the vessel took part in 2023 and in 2025.

3.2. Strict Transit in the Territorial Sea

In French territorial waters, only navigation under the right of innocent passage remains possible.

In accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, this transit must be continuous, expeditious and carried out by the most direct route possible, without stopping or anchoring.

Previously, the TS Shtandart could still anchor occasionally outside port areas subject to a prior request addressed to the maritime authorities (en). Requests had to be submitted at least twenty-four hours in advance and spaced several days apart.This regime is now obsolete. Such a limitation is accompanied by rigorous control of port calls, even in emergency situations.

3.3. Port Calls Limited to Emergency Situations

International maritime law stipulates that a vessel may access a port in case of danger to the safety of the ship or for the preservation of human life.

The order nevertheless provides for the monitoring of these situations by the French authorities. If the incident invoked appears foreseeable or artificially caused, legal proceedings could be initiated.

These provisions are intended in particular to prevent situations of distress, prepared or staged, from being used to obtain access to a port.

This development also puts an end to the regime of “technical stopovers” (fr), a concept foreign to the European regulation, which had been applied on several occasions in La Rochelle.

See: Desk-Russie, 28 September 2025 – When the Russian vessel Shtandart and La Rochelle defy European sanctions (fr)

It also demonstrates that the highest maritime authority, in a structured and professional manner, is taking back control of a case that had seen divergent applications. It depended on the departmental prefects locally responsible for handling the port calls of the TS Shtandart.

3.4. The Vessel’s Tenders Also Concerned

Le Télégramme, Thierry Clerc, 25 November 2025: “Regarding the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers, it is possible as long as the vessel can remain at anchor and access land with tenders.”

The tenders of the TS Shtandart are now subject to the same prohibitions as the main vessel. It will therefore no longer be possible to embark or disembark passengers near prohibited ports, as had been observed in certain previous situations and as mentioned by Thierry Clerc, the Shtandart’s lawyer.

Taken as a whole, the order thus constitutes a comprehensive system intended to prevent the circumventions and accommodations (fr) previously observed.

Inter-prefectoral decree of March 5, 2026: “…The officers and agents of the judicial police as well as the officers and agents authorized in matters of administrative navigation policing are responsible for the execution of this decree…”

4. The Question of Enforcement

The practical implementation of these new rules could nevertheless depend on how they are interpreted by the various administrations concerned.

Indeed, particularly between 2022 and 2024, certain authorities sometimes adopted accommodating readings of the port restrictive measures. In this respect, they were in contradiction with the modus operandi of other European countries. One may cite:

• The Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture (DGAMPA) (fr);
• The National Directorate for Customs Intelligence and Investigations (DNRED) (fr);
• The General Secretariat for the Sea (SGMer)(en).

On 7 January 2026,FR Patrice Bernier, director of the La Rochelle marina, still indicated in the daily newspaper Sud-Ouest (fr) that the port calls of the TS Shtandart remained subject to the assessment of the SGMer.

The effectiveness of the new order will therefore depend on the way it is applied in practice.

5. Vladimir Martus, Captain of the TS Shtandart, Will He Comply with These New Rules?

After the order discussed here, the regulatory framework of the TS Shtandart in France is similar to the regulatory framework in Portugal.

It did not prevent the Russian vessel, in September 2025, from attempting to enter the ports of the Douro, the port of Cascais, and even the harbours around Sagres. Legality was enforced only thanks to the vigilance of Ukrainian activists and the constant monitoring of the Portuguese maritime authority. Such a monitoring also led to the interception of the second officer of the TS Shtandart and four passengers who were not allowed to board the Russian ship. This surveillance is detailed in the report below.

See: Autoridade Marítima Nacional, 24 September 2025 – The National Maritime Authority monitors the sailing vessel TS SHTANDART along the Portuguese coast (pt)

These circumvention manoeuvres or their attempts are widely detailed in an internal document published on VK (a Russian social network). It was written by a crew member of the TS Shtandart.

See: TS Shtandart, 1 October 2025 – A dramatic story of a pirate chess game, or the second officer Tim against NATO (en)

In September 2025, although prohibited in Spanish territorial waters (es) since 27 July 2024, the TS Shtandart entered the territorial waters of Galicia (es) and Andalusia (en).

In October 2025, the TS Shtandart carried out a clandestine disembarkation on a Greek island, as revealed, once again, by an internal document.

See: TS Shtandart, 12 October 2025 – Internal testimony, clandestine disembarkation on a Greek island (en)

Finally, it must be added that the TS Shtandart disconnected its Automatic Identification System (AIS) on 14 November 2025 (en). This will make its monitoring more difficult. It would probably have been useful for the order to require the activation of this instrument in French territorial waters.

The TS Shtandart has planned a cruise departing from Bodrum, Turkey, with an arrival scheduled in Bizerte, Tunisia, on 28 April 2026 (en). From that date, particular vigilance will be required regarding any potential route towards European and French ports.

Conclusion

The case of the TS Shtandart goes beyond the sole instance of a Russian “historic” sailing vessel. It raises the question of the effective implementation of European sanctions adopted after the invasion of Ukraine. It also questions the capacity of Member States to prevent their circumvention.

The order of 5 March 2026 constitutes an important administrative response formulated simultaneously (a remarkable fact) by three maritime prefects. It also illustrates the need for constant vigilance so that the restrictive measures adopted by the European Union are applied in a coherent manner across its entire territory.

It represents a fundamental shift in the management of the TS Shtandart case in France. It goes far beyond the only Kombat-Tour cruise and now renders almost impossible the mere presence of the Russian vessel along the French coasts.

The real impact of this measure will, however, depend on how these provisions are applied in practice.

---