Court hears dispute over seized ship Professor Molchanov

NRK reported on 19 October that a lawyer told the Nord-Troms og Senja tingrett (Nord-Troms and Senja District Court) that Sysselmesteren (the Governor of Svalbard) had to abandon its first attempt to seize the Russian ship "Professor Molchanov".

Fause said that the case is a civil matter between civil parties, NRK reported on 10 September. His task as bailiff was to impose the arrest while the ship lay at rest, and it ended there, he said. NRK said on 19 October that Fause would not comment on what was presented in court.

NRK reported from the hearing that Herman Steen, lawyer for the Ukrainian state company Naftogaz, said something had happened aboard. The arrest was made on 2 September after a stand-off of 24 hours, he said. Steen said the police report records threats of serious consequences, and that resistance aboard was met that day too. He said this is the Governor's word. NRK added a clarification that the alleged threats came on 2 September, not 1 September, when service of the arrest was first attempted.

Russia chose not to appear and sent Trust Arktikugol (Russia's state-owned company on Svalbard), which Steen criticised. He argued that the trust had not produced requested evidence that the ship is a critical supply line, that alternatives exist, and that the arrest does not breach the Svalbard Treaty. Arnt Angell, lawyer for the Russian-owned trust, said he had no knowledge of resistance aboard. He had been told the arrest went without drama, but was not present. Angell said the trust and the people of Barentsburg and Pyramiden are hit financially. He said the alternative supply lines are expensive and limited, also because of the geopolitical situation. He said the trust, as a state-owned company, can invoke the Svalbard Treaty in a dispute between states.

The district court ordered the arrest to secure an arbitral award of about 4.22 billion dollars, plus interest and costs, owed to Naftogaz for assets seized in Crimea in 2014, NRK reported. The court ruled that the ship cannot be sold by force until Russia has presented its side. According to the Governor's notice of 2 September, the ship stays at the quay in Barentsburg for as long as the Governor or the court has not decided otherwise.

Correction, 27 October 2026: an earlier version gave Naftogaz's lawyer's argument that the arrest does not breach the Svalbard Treaty but not the reply from Trust Arktikugol's lawyer. It now gives both.

Coverage: NRK