Russia caught: Gas tanker sails heavily armed and carrying military personnel along NATO coasts

©picture alliance / MAXPPP | Guillaume Saligot / Ouest-France

Russia has armed a gas tanker in the Baltic Sea with heavy machine guns. This is evident from photos taken by the Estonian Border Guard and documents reviewed by researchers. According to media reports, the ship, the Marshal Vasilevskiy, is sailing along the coasts of NATO countries in the Baltic region and is also carrying Russian military personnel on board.

The images show two 12.7-millimeter Kord machine guns on the bridge of the nearly 300-meter-long LNG tanker. According to FTM, as far as is known, this is the first time such armament has been publicly displayed on a Russian civilian vessel.

According to researchers, the armament is part of a broader Russian strategy to protect energy shipments and deter Western authorities. An intelligence source from the Baltic region says that this armament effectively makes it impossible for NATO countries to board such a ship.

Deterrent effect

The Marshal Vasilevskiy is strategically important because it transports gas between the Russian terminal at Bolshoy Bor and Kaliningrad, the heavily militarized Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania. The sea route is crucial for Kaliningrad, as the region would have greater difficulty securing gas supplies without this connection.

The crew also raises questions. Analysis of crew lists shows that in recent months, the tanker regularly had passengers on board with backgrounds in the Russian military, the National Guard, or the FSB.

Experts see the armament as a clear signal to NATO: stay away from Russian ships or risk an escalation. At the same time, the report comes at a moment when Ukraine is increasingly targeting Russian ships elsewhere, particularly in the Black Sea.

©picture alliance / MAXPPP | Guillaume Saligot / Ouest-France - illustrative image of a Russian oil tanker