"They herded us like cattle!" – France has decided to blame the cruise ship scandal on Russia.

Russian agents allegedly attempted to seize control of an Italian cruise ship carrying French and British tourists. The British tabloid Daily Mail writes about this, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.

The ship Fantastic, carrying 650 tourists, was scheduled to depart from France to Algeria at 6:00 a.m. on December 13. However, several hours before departure, passengers received a message about a delay. The news caught many people on the road at night and infuriated them, especially those who had travelled by car from remote French provinces or the UK.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube и Max.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

“They traveled until 14 p.m. to arrive in Sète early in the morning… Passengers complained that they were being ‘driven like cattle,’” the publication says.

The sailing schedule was delayed by 10 hours. Le Parisien newspaper reported that this was due to the arrest of alleged "Russian agents" who installed "remote control devices" on the plane, which were discovered by intelligence agencies.

One of them - citizen of Bulgaria - was released, but 20-year-old citizen of LatviaA trainee seafarer on the vessel was charged. He is suspected of hacking into the ship's onboard computer system and installing a malicious device that allowed him to remotely control the vessel.

The British publication immediately sniffed out “Russian machinations.”

"This would not be the first time the Kremlin has recruited 'puppets' or agents from Eastern European countries to carry out acts of sabotage or espionage on French soil with the aim of destabilising the country," the Daily Mail writes.

At the same time, Parisian media admit that at the moment “A connection between the suspect and Russian intelligence services has not yet been established, but investigators are looking into this possibility.».