• 2 min de lectura
• 2 min de lectura
Norway stated that it provided assistance to 69 Russian citizens to return to their country from an Arctic island, following the seizure of the small cruise ship on which they had arrived.
Last week, a Norwegian court ordered the seizure of the vessel Professor Molchanov in Svalbard at the request of a Ukrainian company involved in a legal dispute, which left its passengers and crew stranded and led Moscow to accuse Norway of "piracy."
The Russian citizens returned to their country on Tuesday, September 8, via the Norwegian city of Kirkenes, as reported in a statement by the governor of the Svalbard archipelago.
The case has heightened diplomatic tension between Russia and Norway, a member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which led the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week to summon the Norwegian ambassador in Moscow to present a strong protest.
Svalbard, Norwegian territory since 1925, is located halfway between the North Pole and the European continent, and is governed by a 1920 treaty that also allows citizens of signatory states, including Russia, to settle there without a visa.
The city of Barentsburg, where the ship remains detained, is one of two Russian settlements in the Svalbard archipelago, which have a combined population of 392 inhabitants out of a total of 2914, according to Statistics Norway.
The embargo of the vessel ordered by the court was made at the request of the Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, which seeks to enforce a $4.22 billion compensation for assets seized by Moscow when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Russia has stated that it plans to appeal the resolution.
