opinions
Denmark Must Stop Servicing Tankers Sustaining Putin’s Arctic LNG Trade
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This is an op-ed written by an external contributor. All views expressed are the writer's own.
On 3 September, Denmark’s security service warned that Russian intelligence services were actively preparing sabotage against the country’s defence industry.
The warning should focus attention on an uncomfortable contradiction at Fayard, the Danish shipyard helping maintain the specialised tankers that carry liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Arctic.
Fayard holds a framework agreement covering service and maintenance of Denmark’s Thetis-class military vessels. It also services Arc7 tankers carrying LNG from Russia’s Yamal project. Denmark should explain how security is protected around these visits, while Fayard should reconsider the trade its work helps sustain.
High North News has already reported why this fleet deserves scrutiny.
Malte Humpert’s March 2025 investigation, drawing on former senior officers, FSB protocols and vessel documentation, described pressure to remove Western officers and the creation of an informant network involving Russian officers aboard the Yamal LNG fleet.
A state that treats independent voices as enemies
That reporting does not establish that sabotage has occurred at Fayard, or that any particular crew member entering the yard has committed wrongdoing. It does give Denmark reason to examine access arrangements carefully, especially now that its own intelligence service has warned about preparations to target the defence industry.
I know what it means to live under a state that treats independent voices as enemies. I left Russia in 2022 after decades of environmental campaigning. Continuing our work there had become impossible. For people who challenged the authorities, the threat of imprisonment shaped even the most ordinary decisions.
In 1989, I co-founded Ecodefense. After the Berlin Wall fell, I hoped a free civil society could take root in Russia. Under Vladimir Putin, that hope gave way to repression. From exile, I watch European businesses continue supporting an energy industry that strengthens the regime we opposed.
The Arc7 tankers are essential to that industry in the Arctic. They were built to carry LNG through ice from Yamal, allowing exports throughout the year. Maintaining them helps preserve Russia’s ability to sell gas beyond its borders, despite the isolation brought about by its war against Ukraine.
On 27 August, Urgewald reported that the Boris Davydov was waiting to enter Fayard, following the Rudolf Samoylovich and Georgiy Brusilov earlier in the summer. Its trading record shows what these maintenance visits can help sustain. The Boris Davydov’s previous stay at the yard ended in September 2023.
Between that maintenance period and Urgewald’s August analysis, the vessel carried 50 Yamal LNG cargoes containing 3.65 million tonnes of gas. Using monthly market benchmarks, Urgewald estimated their gross value at €1.91 billion. Servicing the vessel again could help it continue a trade of considerable value to Russia’s energy industry.
Fayard has defended its work by pointing out that these tankers are not Russian-owned, are not part of the shadow fleet and are not under EU sanctions. It says the work is legal. Those distinctions deserve accurate reporting. They also leave the central political question unanswered.
Why should a European shipyard continue maintaining vessels essential to Russian fossil-fuel exports while Russia attacks Ukraine and threatens European security? Foreign ownership does not change where these tankers load their gas or which project depends on them. The connection to Russia’s Arctic energy industry is clear.
Denmark should review how access to the yard is controlled, how crews are checked and how commercial visits are separated from any work involving military vessels. The framework agreement alone does not establish that both types of ship are present together. The authorities should explain the safeguards they apply.
The EU has already adopted restrictions addressing this trade. Article 3sa provides for relevant services restrictions to extend from 1 January 2027 to additional LNG tankers operating in or intended for use in Russia. The distinction between vessels’ ownership and their work in Russia is therefore already reflected in European law.
I appeal directly to Fayard’s chief executive
But maintenance completed before that deadline could help these ships operate well beyond it. Europe should consider that consequence when deciding how quickly to act. The next sanctions package should address the remaining support keeping Russia’s Arctic LNG exports moving. Fayard can take its own decision immediately.
I appeal directly to Fayard’s chief executive, Thomas Andersen: stop servicing the Arc7 fleet. Your shipyard has expertise that Russia’s Arctic gas trade continues to benefit from.
You can decide that expertise should no longer support this trade. Ukrainians facing Russian attacks, and Russians forced into exile for opposing the regime, deserve to see that choice made.
Vladimir Slivyak is co-founder and co-chair of the Russian environmental organisation Ecodefense and a 2021 Right Livelihood Laureate. He has spent decades campaigning against fossil-fuel and nuclear projects and now lives in exile in Germany.
