Russian ship seized to enforce $4.2b compensation claim

Norway has seized a Russian ship in the Arctic to enforce a $US4.22 billion compensation claim won by Ukrainian energy firm Naftogaz over Moscow's seizure of its assets when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

The vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized off the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, according to Covington, the US law firm representing Naftogaz.

The Russian state news agency TASS quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesperson as saying the Norwegian action was "piracy".

The Svalbard governor's office issued a statement confirming the ship had been seized and would be held on Svalbard, adding: "The governor will take care of the crew and passengers on board the vessel in collaboration with Trust Arktikugol".

It was not immediately clear how many passengers and crew were on the ship. Arktikugol (Arctic Coal) is the Russian company that manages Moscow's assets on the archipelago.

Svalbard, a Norwegian territory since 1925, lies midway between the North Pole and the European mainland and is governed under a 1920 treaty that also allows citizens of signatory states, including Russia, to settle there without a visa.

The ship arrived on Tuesday in Barentsburg, a Russian-operated coal mining settlement on Spitsbergen, the largest island in the archipelago, with a party of Russian scientists, according to a journalist who was accompanying them.

Andrei Gorbunov, editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) radio, said the vessel had docked without incident and the expedition members had headed ashore. News did not emerge until Wednesday night that the ship had been seized.

"This seizure has had no impact on the expedition participants or the ship's crew. No one has been arrested. We are all going about our business as usual," Gorbunov wrote on KP's website.

Naftogaz has previously won court orders to seize two Trust Arktikugol properties in Svalbard, including a rental guest house, but Russia has raised legal challenges.

Naftogaz has been pursuing Russia since 2016 to seek compensation for the expropriation of its property in Crimea.

A tribunal in The Hague in April 2023 ordered Russia to pay Naftogaz $US4.22 billion plus interest and legal costs.

"Russia cannot evade responsibility simply by refusing to comply with an international arbitral award," said Naftogaz Acting CEO Sergii Fedorenko.

Norway said the matter was a legal one between Naftogaz and Russia and did not involve the Oslo government.