Norwegian authorities have seized a Russian ship in the Svalbard archipelago at the request of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz, officials said on Thursday, prompting Moscow to accuse Norway of piracy.
The vessel named Professor Molchanov was seized on Wednesday under a Norwegian district court order and will remain in port until further notice, authorities on the Arctic archipelago said.
The action follows an arbitration ruling ordering Russia to compensate Naftogaz for assets expropriated after Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
"The legal process and ruling are part of the company's fight to recover funds that were expropriated by Russia in 2014," the authorities said in a statement.
Svalbard Governor Lars Fause told Norwegian broadcaster NRK that authorities, together with mining company Trust Arktikugol, would look after the crew and passengers of the commercial vessel.
According to Naftogaz, the case concerns significant oil and gas assets it owned on the Crimean Peninsula before they were expropriated following Russia's annexation.
The seizure was ordered to enforce Moscow's outstanding financial obligations stemming from a 2023 arbitration ruling in The Hague.
The tribunal in awarded Naftogaz around $4.2 billion in compensation for assets expropriated in Crimea.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the seizure, telling Russian state news agency TASS that "abduction" would be a more appropriate term for the action.
She accused the West of having legalized piracy.