Norwegian authorities seized the Russian-owned expedition ship Professor Molchanov in the Svalbard archipelago at the request of Ukraine’s state energy company, Naftogaz. The seizure took place on September 2 in the Russian-operated settlement of Barentsburg, following an order from Norway’s Nord-Troms District Court. The court ruled that Naftogaz could pursue the ship to collect on a roughly $4.22 billion international arbitration award issued against Russia in 2023 for assets expropriated in Crimea after the 2014 annexation.
The vessel must remain in Barentsburg until further notice, and officials are coordinating with the Russian state company running the settlement regarding the welfare of the crew and passengers. Naftogaz stated that this action is part of a broader campaign to seize Russian state assets globally until the full amount is recovered, with courts in the United States, France, Britain, and Finland having already frozen Russian holdings.
The Russian government protested the seizure, with a foreign ministry spokesperson describing it as piracy and stating Moscow was not properly notified. The vessel, built in Finland in 1983 as a Soviet oceanographic research vessel, was later converted into an expedition cruise ship.