Norway had seized a Russian ship in the Arctic to enforce a US$4.22 billion compensation claim won by Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz over Moscow’s seizure of its assets when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, officials said late on Wednesday.
The vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized off the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, according to Covington, the US law firm representing Naftogaz.
The Russian state news agency TASS quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying the Norwegian action was “piracy”.
The Svalbard governor’s office issued a statement confirming that the ship had been seized and would be held on Svalbard, adding: “The governor will take care of the crew and passengers on board the vessel in collaboration with Trust Arktikugol”.
It was not immediately clear how many passengers and crew were on the ship. Arktikugol is the Russian company that manages Moscow’s assets on the archipelago.
Svalbard, a Norwegian territory since 1925, lies midway between the North Pole and the European mainland and is governed under a 1920 treaty that also allows citizens of signatory states, including Russia, to settle there without a visa.