The ship, named Arcusat, abruptly changed course as it approached German waters en route to the Gulf of Finland this week, the news agency reports. According to reports, German federal police forced the oil tanker to turn around.
Instead, the ship sailed back through Danish and Swedish waters, then headed north along the coast of Norway. It is now north of the Kola Peninsula in the Barents Sea, according to data from shipping monitoring site Marine Traffic.
It is described as the first time a European country has blocked a ship suspected of belonging to Russia's so-called shadow fleet - tankers transporting sanctioned oil that Russia is believed to be selling on the black market.
According to analysts, Germany's decision could signal a shift in Europe's handling of ships suspected to be part of the shadow fleet.
