Norway has seized a Russian business cruise ship off the Svalbard archipelago on the request of Ukrainian oil and fuel agency Naftogaz, which is looking for enforcement of a $4.22 billion award over Russia’s asset expropriation when it annexed Crimea.
“On the request of Naftogaz Group, Norwegian authorities have seized the Russian vessel Professor Molchanov on the port of Barentsburg in Svalbard as a part of international efforts to implement the arbitral award obtained by Naftogaz and different Group corporations in opposition to the Russian Federation in reference to the illegal expropriation of their property in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014,” the Ukrainian firm mentioned in a statement.
In 2023, a tribunal in The Hague ordered Russia to pay Naftogaz greater than $5 billion for Russia’s treaty violations and the seizure of Naftogaz property following the Russian annexation of Crimea again in 2014.
Naftogaz and its worldwide authorized counsel Covington & Burling LLP have been monitoring the Professor Molchanov vessel for months and the arbitral award has been acknowledged as enforceable in Norway.
The ship was lastly seized off Svalbard after the seizure was ordered by the Nord-Troms and Senja District Court docket in Norway on 31 August, 2026. The seizure was ordered to “safe enforcement of the Russian Federation’s excellent obligations beneath the arbitral award, amounting to roughly $4.22 billion plus curiosity and prices,” Naftogaz mentioned.
“We are going to proceed to pursue Russian property all over the world till the compensation awarded to Naftogaz and different Naftogaz Group corporations is paid,” Naftogaz’s performing CEO Sergii Fedorenko mentioned.
The Professor Molchanov vessel is owned by the Russian Federation and is used for business expedition cruises, together with to Svalbard.
Beneath the court docket order of the Norwegian district court docket, the vessel might not depart its present location. The Governor of Svalbard is required to take the required measures to stop the vessel from being moved.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
