Svalbard Russia summons Norwegian diplomat over arrested ship
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the acting head of Norway's embassy in Moscow on Tuesday 3 November and protested against the arrest of the Professor Molchanov in Barentsburg and of Russian property in Oslo.
It was the ministry's second summons of a Norwegian diplomat over the ship. On 3 September, the day after the arrest, it summoned Norway's ambassador in Moscow, Heidi Olufsen, and made what it called a strong protest (translated from Russian).
The ship has been held in Barentsburg since 2 September, and the ministry said that the case could take many months more. It said that a long winter lay-up in the Arctic could put the ship, which it said was not suited to it, out of service, with serious consequences for the environment. Russia's consul general on Svalbard is helping the crew members who remain on board, it said.
The ministry said that it had demanded that Norway unconditionally comply with international law, including the Svalbard Treaty (signed in 1920 as the Treaty concerning Spitsbergen). It said that the Treaty gives citizens of the countries that signed it free access to the archipelago, and that the arrest significantly hampered this access.
The ministry said that the ship had been the only means of direct transport to Svalbard for staff of Russian organisations and for vital supplies. It said that flights between Russia and Svalbard had stopped because of what it called Norway's "illegitimate unilateral restrictive measures" against Russia (translated from Russian).
On 18 September, Norway's Ministry of Justice and Public Security issued a regulation on seizures in Svalbard communities. It limits the seizure of assets for debts when they are in, or on their way to, such communities and are needed to keep them running.
Norway's justice ministry said that supply lines to some communities on Svalbard can be more exposed than those on mainland Norway. Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Reuters in September that Norwegian authorities "are doing what we can to protect Russian citizens who have found themselves in a difficult situation now", TASS reported on 5 September.
The Governor of Svalbard (Sysselmesteren) arrested the ship on 2 September on the instruction of the Nord-Troms and Senja District Court. The arrest was requested by Naftogaz, the Ukrainian state-owned energy company. Naftogaz is seeking to enforce a 2023 award by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague against Russia over its assets in Crimea.
On 28 October the same court rejected a request by Arktikugol, the Russian state coal company in Barentsburg, to lift the arrest.
The Russian ministry also protested against the arrest of five Russian properties in Oslo on 22 September. It cited the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 2004 United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property. It said that Russia would seek to have the arrests lifted.
Coverage: TASS, The Barents Observer, Anadolu Ajansı, Caspian Post, Finansavisen, Operativ Məlumat Mərkəzi, China Daily, The Moscow Times, Oreanda News, Lao Dong, Dagbladet