WSJ: Professor Molchanov seizure brings Ukraine war to the Arctic

WSJ reported on 25 October that the seizure of a Russian vessel has taken the war in Ukraine to the Arctic. Nord-Troms og Senja tingrett (Nord-Troms and Senja District Court) heard lawyers for Trust Arktikugol (Russia's state-owned company on Svalbard) and Naftogaz on 19 October, NRK reported. The Barents Observer said on 22 October that a ruling was expected within days. The newspaper said the ship is still at Barentsburg, with few crew aboard.

The Barents Observer said the Oslo tingrett (Oslo District Court) has allowed Naftogaz to seize five Russian-owned properties, according to VG. They are an apartment building in Frogner, three flats in western Oslo and one in Sinsen. VG also reported seizures of 62 snowmobiles, 15 cars and four bank accounts. The Barents Observer counted the snowmobiles and cars among Russian assets on Svalbard. Dagens Næringsliv had reported the seizure of Russki Dom, a Longyearbyen building used by Grumant, a travel agency run by Arktikugol. Sysselmesteren (the Governor of Svalbard) rejected the Barents Observer's request for information on other assets.

The Barents Observer wrote that the seizures led the Norwegian government to fast-track a special regulation in mid-September on supply lines to the Russian settlements. It also wrote that the ship has had only a minor part in supplying Barentsburg, despite claims by the Russian Embassy and Arktikugol. Other cargo vessels do that, it said.

On 2 September the Barents Observer reported that a district court ordered the ship seized on 31 August at the request of Ukraine's Naftogaz. The Governor said in its statement of 2 September that it seized the vessel in Barentsburg that day as the enforcement authority, and that the vessel stays there until the Governor or the court decides otherwise. Reuters, in a report carried by Arctic Today on 3 September, said the order enforces a $4.22 billion award made in April 2023. Clovis Trevino, a partner at Covington, the law firm representing Naftogaz, told Reuters the ship is worth a small fraction of the roughly $6 billion now owed.

Polar Journal reported on 19 September that the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Norwegian ambassador on 3 September and demanded that the seizure be lifted. Russia claims state immunity for the ship as a Roshydromet vessel, while Naftogaz points to its commercial use, Polar Journal said. Arctic Today, carrying a Barents Observer report, said 69 Russian passengers and crew returned to Russia on 8 September via Longyearbyen and Kirkenes with the Governor's help.

Polar Journal said the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Norway of violating the Svalbard Treaty, and Reuters said Moscow called the arrest an act of piracy. Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet (the Ministry of Justice and Public Security) said Norway is not a party to the dispute, that the Governor only enforced the court order and that Russia can ask the district court to review the case, Polar Journal and Reuters reported. Arnt Angell, lawyer for Trust Arktikugol, told the court the trust and the people of Barentsburg and Pyramiden are hit financially by the arrest. He said the alternative supply lines are expensive and limited, also because of the geopolitical situation, NRK reported. The ministry adopted the regulation on 18 September. It limits seizure of assets in or on the way to Svalbard's local communities when they are needed to keep those communities running. The ministry said supply lines to some communities on Svalbard are more exposed than on the mainland.

Correction, 27 October 2026: an earlier version placed four seized bank accounts on Svalbard and credited Dagens Næringsliv with a request the Barents Observer made to the Governor. The Barents Observer placed only the snowmobiles and cars on Svalbard, and the request was its own.

Coverage: WSJ, The Barents Observer, Polar Journal, Arctic Today, Interfax-Ukraine