🇷🇺⚡️- Since the European Union has increased its efforts to seize Russian 'shadow fleet' oil and gas tankers travelling near friendly borders, a civilian liquid natural gas (LNG) carrier owned by Gazprom, a Russian state-owned energy company, was spotted by Estonian border police travelling to Kaliningrad with a mounted 12.7mm Kord machine gun on board.

The vessel, the Marshal Vasilevskiy (MMSI: 273437230), which is currently used to shuttle LNG from a port on the Russian mainland in the Gulf of Finland to Kaliningrad, serves as an important lifeline for the enclave Kaliningrad Oblast, which is unable to secure energy except from the Russian shuttle service.

Due to the route taken by the Russian shuttle fleet, the vessel is unlikely to come under threat from Ukrainian drone attacks, and the weapons are more likely to be a deterrent against boarding attempts by Western forces.

Credit: OCCRP