Norway’s ambassador in Moscow has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to answer for the seizure of the Russian cruise ship in Barentsburg. Russia is demanding an explanation and wants the ship released. Putin was asked about the matter during the summit in Vladivostok and described the conduct as state terrorism. Norway’s Ministry of Justice washes its hands of the matter and says it is not their responsibility.
– The Norwegian authorities are not a party to the case. In his capacity as enforcement officer, the Governor of Svalbard is obliged to implement the decision of Nord-Troms and Senja District Court. This applies to all cases concerning arrest and attachment, regardless of who the parties are, communications adviser Frank Lynum says in a statement to NTB.
He says Russia can ask the District Court to reconsider the case.
– Russia has done so in a previous case concerning attachment, he adds.
On Svalbard, Governor Lars Fause has promised to assist in taking care of those affected by the arrest of the ship.
– We will also be very helpful in getting the crew and passengers home to Russia, he told NRK on Wednesday.
The matter has now been elevated to a level at which the Foreign Ministry and the government cannot say that it is not their responsibility.
Aleksei Chekunkov, Russia’s Minister for the Development of the Arctic and the Russian Far East, says Russia will challenge the decision to arrest the ship. He calls the incident on Svalbard «yet another example of the legal nihilism and lawlessness of Western countries», according to the Interfax news agency.
But Putin went even further and called the seizure state terrorism. Ukraine wants NATO countries to go head-to-head with Russia in the hope of unleashing NATO’s power. It is therefore incomprehensible that the Foreign Ministry has not been paying attention.
The question came when Putin visited a business conference in Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East, on Thursday. He replied that the seizure of civilian vessels and attacks on merchant ships constitute state terrorism, according to the AP news agency.
In his answer, he commented on the incident on Svalbard, the war in Ukraine and statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
Also at the conference in Vladivostok was Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry. She described the seizure of the ship on Svalbard as «piracy».
– The West has legalised, or rather lifted the veil from, piracy, Zakharova said, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
The ship Professor Molchanov was placed under arrest by the Governor of Svalbard on Wednesday. The order to arrest the ship came from Nord-Troms and Senja District Court.
The court ruling followed a request from the Ukrainian state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz, which for a number of years has demanded compensation from the Russian authorities for assets seized on the annexed Crimean Peninsula. (NTB)
https://www.document.no/2026/09/03/svalbard-vikles-inn-i-striden-mellom-ukraina-og-russland/
https://www.document.no/2026/09/03/russlands-ambassador-krever-beslaglagt-skip-pa-svalbard-frigitt/
