Norway has helped 69 Russian citizens return home from the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard after a Norwegian court ordered the seizure of the ship that brought them, Reuters reported. The vessel remains under arrest on behalf of Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz, which is enforcing a compensation award for property Russia took in Crimea. Moscow calls the seizure piracy and says it will appeal.
The passengers left, the ship stayed
The Russians traveled home on 8 September through the northern Norwegian border town of Kirkenes, the governor of Svalbard said. A Norwegian court ordered the seizure of the Professor Molchanov on 2 September, stranding its passengers and crew on the archipelago.
The ship is held at Barentsburg, one of two Russian settlements on Svalbard. Those settlements house 392 of the archipelago's 2,914 residents, according to Statistics Norway.
The vessel is an expedition cruise ship owned by Roshydromet, Russia's state weather and environmental monitoring agency, in Arkhangelsk, according to CruiseMapper. It sails under the Russian flag, and the Dutch operator Oceanwide Expeditions chartered it earlier for polar voyages.
Ukraine’s spy service and navy team up to strike two Russian crude tankers in the Black Sea
A different kind of enforcement
European states have moved against Russian shipping repeatedly this year, but mostly at sea and under sanctions powers. France's navy boarded a sanctioned shadow-fleet tanker in the Atlantic in June, and British forces boarded one in the English Channel. This case rests on an arbitration award instead, and it holds the ship as security for a debt rather than inspecting a cargo.
Moscow protests, Oslo proceeds
The seizure has sharpened tensions between Russia and Norway, a NATO member. Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned the Norwegian ambassador that same week and delivered a strong protest.
Svalbard has been Norwegian territory since 1925 and lies midway between the North Pole and the European mainland. A 1920 treaty governs it and lets citizens of signatory states, Russia among them, settle there without a visa.
Read also
-
Greek-run tanker carrying Russian oil hit off Russia’s Black Sea coast, Bloomberg reports
-
Russian drone and missile strikes hit farms, Naftogaz facilities, and Sumy in 24-hour assault across Ukraine
-
Ukraine’s fight against Russia reaches Africa as Ukrainian drone specialists support forces battling Moscow
