Norway said Friday it would provide necessary assistance to Russian citizens stranded in the Arctic after authorities seized a Russian ship at the request of Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz, despite Moscow accusing Oslo of “piracy.” The Professor Molchanov remains detained at Barentsburg in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago under a court order connected to Naftogaz’s effort to enforce a $4.22 billion arbitration award against Russia for assets illegally seized following Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “Norwegian authorities are doing what we can to protect Russian citizens who have found themselves in a difficult situation in Svalbard now,” Norway’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters, adding that Oslo was fulfilling its international obligations. The seizure left passengers and crew aboard the vessel unable to continue their journey and raised questions about supplies reaching Russia’s isolated settlements on the Arctic archipelago. Norway’s government said Russian companies are regularly granted exemptions from sanctions to allow food and other essential goods to reach the settlements. Barentsburg, where the Professor Molchanov is being held, and another Russian settlement on Svalbard have a combined population of 392, compared with 2,914 people across the archipelago, according to Statistics Norway. The new statement underscores Oslo’s position that enforcing the Ukrainian compensation award does not mean abandoning its responsibilities toward civilians living on Svalbard.