Norway seized a Russian ship to pay compensation to Ukraine’s “Naftogaz”

🔸Norway, to implement a compensation ruling worth four billion dollars in favor of Ukraine’s state energy company “Naftogaz,” has seized a Russian ship near the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic.

🔸The “Professor Molchanov” vessel was seized on Wednesday, 11 Shahrivar, following a 24-hour standoff with the Norwegian coast guard. The Russian Foreign Ministry has described the action as “piracy.”

🔸The seizure followed a ruling issued in 2023 by an arbitration panel in The Hague. Under the ruling, Russia was required to pay $4.22 billion, plus interest and legal costs, for the expropriation of “Naftogaz” assets in Crimea after Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014.

🔸Moscow has not paid this amount so far.

🔸Naftogaz’s lawyers, before the ship entered Svalbard, had asked a court in Norway to issue an order for its seizure and forced sale, and the court granted the request.

🔸“Naftogaz” says that to enforce the ruling, it is also pursuing Russian assets in several other countries, including the United States, France, Britain, and Finland.

🔸The “Professor Molchanov” ship, about 72 meters long, is currently used for research and tourism trips, and its financial value has not been announced.