Norway seizes Russian vessel over unpaid Crimea compensation claim
Norwegian authorities detained the Russian cruise ship Professor Molchanov in Svalbard after Russia failed to pay a $4.22 billion award to Ukraine's Naftogaz for seized Crimean assets.
Norwegian officials detained the Russian-registered vessel Professor Molchanov in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard on Wednesday, citing a court-ordered compensation claim by Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz. The claim stems from a 2023 Hague tribunal award requiring Russia to pay $4.22 billion, plus interest and legal costs, for assets seized in Crimea after its annexation in 2014.
The ship was taken after a 24-hour standoff with the Norwegian Coast Guard, according to Covington, the U.S. law firm representing Naftogaz. Naftogaz said the seizure is part of “global efforts to enforce the arbitral award obtained by Naftogaz against the Russian Federation in connection with the unlawful expropriation of their assets in Crimea.”
"Russia cannot evade responsibility simply by refusing to comply with an international arbitral award," said Naftogaz Acting CEO Sergii Fedorenko.
Russian officials denounced the action as illegal. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, cited by state news agency TASS, described the seizure as “piracy,” while Alexei Chekunkov, Russia’s minister for the development of the Far East and Arctic, called it “another example of Western countries’ legal nihilism and lawlessness,” according to Interfax.
Covington noted that the Professor Molchanov, a commercial expedition cruise ship, had been monitored for months and was carrying passengers on a Svalbard itinerary. Norwegian authorities are handling the passengers on board.