Sail Training International – The "Shtandart" In Europe

The “Shtandart” explicitly banned – the Court of Justice of the European Union puts an end to its deceptive narrative

Luxembourg, 22 August 2025 – The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has formally confirmed that the Russian ship Shtandart is subject to EU sanctions and cannot enter any European port.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)has confirmed that the Russian ship Shtandart has been subject to port sanctions since 16 April 2022. With Vladimir Martus having made public the confidential correspondence received on this subject, a number of organisations and institutions that chose to ignore the texts and disregard the well-founded warnings communicated to them could find themselves in an awkward position.

Analyse rhétorique du président de l’association « Les Amis des Grands Voiliers — Sail Training Association France » concernant le navire russe « Shtandart » sous sanctions.

Une lettre de Michel Balique, président de l’organisation Les Amis des Grands Voiliers — Sail Training Association France, datée du 3 janvier 2025, fournit un résumé remarquable de la rhétorique utilisée contre les militants qui s’opposent au non-respect des sanctions par le navire russe Shtandart au cours des trois dernières années.

A rhetorical analysis of the president of the ‘Les Amis des Grands Voiliers — Sail Training Association France’ in relation to the sanctioned Russian ship, ‘Shtandart’.

Dated 3 January 2025, a letter from Michel Balique, president of Les Amis des Grands Voiliers — Sail Training Association France, provides a remarkable summary of the rhetoric used against activists opposing the Russian ship Shtandart’s failure to comply with sanctions over the past three years.

How did « Les Amis des Grands Voiliers – Sail Training Association France » deviate from its mandate and damage its reputation by promoting an illicit circumvention of EU sanctions ?

Michel Balique ridiculed and discredited Les Amis des Grands Voiliers primarily by converting its platform into a pro‑Shtandart lobbying machine, repeatedly dodging substantive legal critique, and replacing it with rhetorical excess and personal invective. The result, according to critics, was to tarnish the association’s founders’ intentions and academic legitimacy, presenting it as complicit in illicit circumvention of EU sanctions.