Norway adopted Svalbard supply-line rule in September

Norway has changed its law so that foreign ships which supply or sustain communities can no longer be arrested or seized, Nord-News reported. The change does not help the Professor Molchanov, because the law is not retroactive, the outlet said.

The Russian research vessel has been held in Barentsburg, the Russian mining settlement on the west coast of Spitsbergen. On Wednesday 28 October the Nord-Troms and Senja District Court ruled that its arrest stays in force, after Trust Arktikugol, Russia's state-owned company on Svalbard, asked for it to be lifted.

The Governor of Svalbard (Sysselmesteren) detained the ship in Barentsburg on Wednesday 2 September, enforcing a court order of Monday 31 August, Polar Journal said.

The court found that Arktikugol lacked standing to seek the ship's release, as its charter expired on 15 October and it did not own the vessel, Polar Journal reported. The court said the Russian state, which took part in the first case, was free to file its own request. It did not decide whether the ship, as a Russian state vessel, is protected against seizure.

The arrest was sought by the Ukrainian energy group Naftogaz, which is trying to recover compensation awarded over assets expropriated in Crimea, Polar Journal said. Naftogaz said the ship was used for commercial cruises and so does not count as a supply vessel, Nord-News reported. Arktikugol's case was that the ship supplied Russian settlements on Svalbard.

On Thursday 3 September Moscow had already summoned Norway's ambassador, Heidi Olufsen, Polar Journal said. A Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at the time that Olufsen had explained that the case was between Naftogaz and Russia, and that Norway was not a party to it.

On Tuesday 3 November the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Norway's chargé d'affaires in Moscow, Bjørn Svenungsen, Polar Journal reported. Moscow protested against the arrest and against court orders freezing five Russian state-owned properties in Oslo. It said the arrest breached the Svalbard Treaty, which gives nationals of the countries that signed it a right of access.

Norway's reply was that it only enforced a court decision, Nord-News said.

Earlier: Court keeps Professor Molchanov under arrest in Barentsburg (29 October 2026)

Coverage: Nord-News, Polar Journal, The Barents Observer