Norway seizes the Professor Molchanov at Barentsburg over Naftogaz's arbitration award
Norwegian authorities seized the Russian state ship Professor Molchanov at the port of Barentsburg in Svalbard on 2 September at the request of Naftogaz, Ukraine's national oil and gas company, after a district court decision on 31 August cleared the way. The seizure is part of an effort to collect an arbitration award of about 4.2 billion dollars over Russia's taking of Naftogaz assets in Crimea. The Svalbard governor can hold the ship until the court rules otherwise.
Geopolitics··Morning
The seizure at Barentsburg and the court order behind it
Naftogaz said on Wednesday that Norwegian authorities had seized the Professor Molchanov, a Russian state ship used for commercial expedition cruises around the Svalbard archipelago, at the port of Barentsburg. A district court decision on 31 August cleared the way for the step, which the company had requested. The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten cited a Svalbard police official confirming the seizure, and the vessel-tracking site VesselFinder showed the Professor Molchanov anchored at Barentsburg, a mining settlement on the archipelago.[1], [2]
Lars Fause can hold the ship, and Trust Arcticugol takes on those aboard
Under the court order the Svalbard governor, Lars Fause, can prevent the Professor Molchanov from leaving port. His office said the vessel stays in Barentsburg until the court orders otherwise, and that care of the crew and passengers is handled together with Trust Arcticugol, the Russian state enterprise that manages Russian mining operations on the archipelago. Naftogaz's acting chief executive Serhii Fedorenko called the step an important move towards restoring justice for the unlawful seizure in Crimea, and said the company would keep pursuing Russian assets around the world until the compensation awarded to it is paid in full.[1], [2]
The 4.2 billion dollar award and Europe's other ship actions
A Hague tribunal ordered Russia to pay about 4.2 billion dollars over its seizure of Naftogaz assets following the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the company has since pursued that award through European courts. The seizure at Barentsburg lands in a period of rising European action against Russian-linked vessels: Sweden's top court ruled in June 2026 that a seized Russian ship be handed to Ukraine, British forces detained a sanctioned tanker in the English Channel the same month, and the French navy seized a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean.[1], [2]
