Norway seizes Russian ship in Svalbard archipelago over $4.2bn claim by Ukraine

Norwegian authorities have seized a Russian research vessel, the Professor Molchanov, in the Svalbard archipelago at the request of Ukraine's state energy company, Naftogaz. The vessel was detained in the port of Barentsburg on Svalbard.

The seizure was ordered by a Norwegian court on August 31, based on a $4.22 billion debt owed by Russia to Naftogaz, as ruled by an international arbitration court in The Hague in April 2023. Naftogaz head Serhiy Fedorenko stated that this was a step towards restoring justice over Russia's seizure of Naftogaz assets in Crimea.

Russia's minister for the development of the Far East and Arctic, Alexei Chekunkov, said that the seizure would be challenged, calling it an example of "legal nihilism and lawlessness by Western countries". Russia has maintained a presence in the Svalbard archipelago for decades.

Brief written by urgent.news from Qatar Tribune, Meduza (English), The Insider — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.