1 day ago
By Terje Solsvik, Pavel Polityuk and Mark Trevelyan
OSLO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Norwegian authorities have seized a Russian cruise ship in the Arctic on behalf of Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, which is seeking to enforce a $4.22 billion compensation award for ******* ets that Moscow took when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Officials said the vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized late on Wednesday in Barentsburg, a coal mining settlement that Russia operates on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the terms of a 1920 treaty.
Russia called the arrest of the ship an act of piracy and said it had summoned the Norwegian ambassador to deliver a strong protest. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would work to secure the vessel's release.
"Amid the restrictive measures imposed by Norway against Russia on Svalbard - measures that violate international law - Russian organizations and citizens operating on the archipelago are effectively under blockade," it said, accusing Norway of violating the treaty.
#Russia #arctic
OSLO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Norwegian authorities have seized a Russian cruise ship in the Arctic on behalf of Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, which is seeking to enforce a $4.22 billion compensation award for ******* ets that Moscow took when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Officials said the vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized late on Wednesday in Barentsburg, a coal mining settlement that Russia operates on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the terms of a 1920 treaty.
Russia called the arrest of the ship an act of piracy and said it had summoned the Norwegian ambassador to deliver a strong protest. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would work to secure the vessel's release.
"Amid the restrictive measures imposed by Norway against Russia on Svalbard - measures that violate international law - Russian organizations and citizens operating on the archipelago are effectively under blockade," it said, accusing Norway of violating the treaty.
#Russia #arctic
