Russia’s ambassador to Norway was demanding release on Thursday of a Russian research- and passenger vessel that was seized on Svalbard in accordance with a Norwegian court order the day before. The Norwegian justice ministry, however, denies a direct role in the case as tensions between Norway and Russia keep rising.
It’s been a worrisome late summer for Norway, which shares a border with Russia in the far northeast but is also among the world’s leading providers of financial and defense assistance to Ukraine, following Russia’s invasion in 2022. Russia has recently stepped up its attacks on Ukraine and is now bombing civilian targets in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on a daily and nightly basis, killing scores of Ukrainians including children just during the past few months.
That set off another visit to Kyiv by Nordic leaders including Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre just a week and a half ago, during which Støre confirmed Norway’s ongoing support for Ukraine. That in turn allegedly set off cyber attacks on Norway according to a Russian hacker group calling themselves “Server Killers.” They claimed to have struck again this week, targeting Norwegian universities.
Meanwhile there’s been a lot of unusual air- and sea traffic in, out of and around Norway in recent weeks. Newspaper Aftenposten reported in late August that for the first time in many years, allied surveillance flights were taking off from Norwegian air bases and conducting patrols right off the coast of Russia’s Kola peninsula, where its own northern navy is based. Norway never wanted to provoke the former Soviet Union during the Cold War and has earlier restricted NATO military activity east of Hammerfest in Finnmark.
Putin’s war on Ukraine has changed all the old rules, and Aftenposten reported that a British P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol flight was among those recently taking off from Norway’s Evenes airport and military air base between Harstad and Narvik. Citing Flightradar24 and military officials, Aftenposten reported how other NATO aircraft took off from Norway’s Ørland air base farther south, where Norway’s own new fighter jets are based, and from Bodø. They all flew up along the Norwegian coast and around Finnmark, circling in international air space right off Russia’s naval bases at Kola. Early last week other British military aircraft took off from Ørland and made a new, long patrol over Sweden and Finland before flying over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania along their border to Russia, then over Poland before returning to Finland.
Shortly thereafter it became known that the chief of the USA’s CIA, John Ratcliffe, had been on a flight of his own in the area and landed in Moscow, where he met with his Russian counterparts. According to American media, his main message was to warn Putin against targeting any NATO member, at a time when Norway has been among NATO members viewed as a possible target. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been mentioned most often as targets, but so has Norway because of its vast oil and gas reserves and strategic location in the Arctic. Any loss or disruption of Norwegian oil and gas supplies would hurt not only Ukraine but also the rest of Europe.
Officials from the Ukrainian think tank Sahaidachnyi Security Center and the Ukrainian defense-tech firm Buntar Aerospace, which specializes in drones and unmanned weapons, were in Oslo last week to present what they actually called “The Battle of Norway.” It’s their new study examining “potential challenges to Norway and NATO, critical gaps in defense posture” and how Ukraine can also help them boost defense and capability.
Sverre Strandhagen, a commentator for Oslo newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) who specializes in defense issues, noted after their presentation that Norway was singled out “because we’re a major (offshore) energy producer” with undersea infrastructure that “can be NATO’s Achilles heel.” It’s widely known that Norway lacks adequate defense against drones and ballistic missiles that have been such a major part of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Strandhagen noted that the CIA chief Ratcliffe wouldn’t have made a trip to Moscow if there weren’t serious concerns that Putin, who’s widely viewed as getting desperate after nearly five years of failing to defeat Ukraine, may attack a NATO ally or even launch a real battle for Norway. On Wednesday, Strandhagen joined others in writing how Putin may be driven now by fears for his own life if he loses his war on Ukraine. It’s widely believed Russia is already “plaguing other countries,” noting how Finland has experienced border challenges, Slovakia had to fend off an attack on a drone producer and Germany just had to deal with what appears to have been a drone attack at its airport in Leipzig. That set off stern warnings from the leader of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that Europe and NATO won’t only maintain pressure against Russia, but increase it.
Sanctions against Russia continue and then came the seizure of the Russian vessel Professor Molchanov at the Russian enclave of Barentsburg on Svalbard, which is under Norwegian administration. The governor of Svalbard, Lars Fause, confirmed the seizure on Wednesday after it had been ordered by the Nord-Troms and Senja District Court on the Norwegian mainland at the request of the Ukrainian state-owned energy company Naftogaz Group. The Barents Observer reported on Thursday that the seizure is part of Ukraine’s global efforts to secure enforcement of an arbitration award against the Russian Federation, which has been ordered to pay Ukraine more than USD 4 billion in outstanding obligations.
It’s unclear what the seized ship is actually worth itself, but it has been sailing between Murmansk and Barentsburg and thus providing a needed transport link for Russians to and from Svalbard itself. That’s important for the Russians, since they no long can travel through Norway after Norway stopped issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens.
The Norwegian government, meanwhile, claims it’s not directly involved in the ship seizure conflict, since the mainland court in Tromsø was acting on behalf of the Ukrainian energy company. Appeals from Russia’s ambassador in Oslo on Thursday to release the ship were fended off by Norway’s justice ministry, but the Russians and their state-owned company Trust Arktikugol in Barentsburg are being represented by the Oslo law firm Elden. One of its Norwegian defense attorneys, Arnt Angell, told local newspaper Svalbardposten that it will argue on the Russians’ behalf that the seizure violates Arcticle 3 of the Svalbard Treaty, which provides “absolute rights to free movements by ship.”
Putin himself, meanwhile, was reportedly furious over the Russian ship’s arrest, referring to it as “state terrorism” on the part of the Norwegians while attending a business conference in Vladivostok. The Norwegian government once again denied the claim, stressing that Norwegian officials were merely carrying out a court order on behalf of the Ukrainian company. Trust Arktigugol, still mostly in charge of Russia’s mining operations in Barentsburg, declined comment on the dispute. No Norwegian military or defense forces were involved in Wednesday’s seizure.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
