斯瓦尔巴群岛，挪威——今年夏天，俄罗斯地理学会租用一艘加固破冰船，前往挪威的北极群岛斯瓦尔巴群岛，开展考察以绘制俄罗斯在该群岛历史存在的地图。
SVALBARD, Norway—This summer, Russia’s Geographical Society leased an ice-strengthened vessel for an expedition to map Russia’s historic presence on Norway’s Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
“莫尔恰诺夫教授”号（Professor Molchanov）上的乘客回忆说，当时阳光明媚，海面平静。他们不知道的是，挪威警方会在船只的第一个停靠点——俄罗斯运营的矿业城镇巴伦支堡（Barentsburg）——登船，并持法院命令扣押该船及其文件。俄罗斯方面毫无合作意愿。
The sun shone and the waters were calm, the passengers on the Professor Molchanov recalled. What they didn’t know was that Norwegian police would board it at its first stop, the Russian-run mining town of Barentsburg, with a court order to seize the ship and its paperwork. The Russians were in no mood to cooperate.
上个月发生在高纬度北极地区、距离北极点仅800英里（约1287公里）的这一事件，是全球范围内追查俄罗斯资产行动的最新一例。自莫斯科四年前全面入侵乌克兰以来，这一行动显著加速。受制裁俄罗斯寡头的超级游艇和私人飞机被扣押，商业船只被查封，欧洲冻结了3000亿美元的俄罗斯央行资产。
The episode last month in the High North, just 800 miles from the North Pole, was the latest in a globe-spanning effort to pursue Russian assets that accelerated after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago. Superyachts and private jets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs have been impounded, commercial vessels have been seized, and $300 billion of Russian central-bank assets have been frozen by the European Union.
以著名俄罗斯科学家命名的“莫尔恰诺夫教授”号，也成为了目标——这一次是为了惩罚莫斯科在持续冲突中发出的第一枪之一：2014年吞并克里米亚。
The Professor Molchanov, named for a famed Russian scientist, had become a target, too—this time to punish Moscow for one of the first shots in the continuing conflict: its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
乌克兰国家能源巨头纳夫托加兹（NJSC Naftogaz）采取法律行动，寻求从俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司（Gazprom）处获得赔偿，后者在俄罗斯夺取黑海这一关键半岛时接管了纳夫托加兹的能源资产。
Ukraine’s state energy giant NJSC Naftogaz took legal action to secure compensation from Russia’s Gazprom for energy assets it took over when Russia seized the crucial peninsula on the Black Sea.
在与美国律师事务所科文顿·伯林律师事务所（Covington & Burling LLP）合作下，纳夫托加兹在法庭上斗争了近十年，却无果而终。俄罗斯驳回该案，称其为捏造。
Working with the U.S. law firm Covington & Burling LLP, Naftogaz battled in the courts for nearly a decade with no result. Russia dismissed the case as bogus.
直到2023年4月，海牙的一个国际仲裁法庭裁定，俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司非法征用了纳夫托加兹在克里米亚的资产。法庭将赔偿额定为42亿美元加利息，在裁决时利息已使总额超过50亿美元。这是乌克兰的一大胜利。但俄罗斯拒绝支付。
It wasn’t until April 2023 that an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague ruled that Gazprom had unlawfully expropriated Naftogaz’s Crimean assets. It set compensation at $4.2 billion plus interest, which at the time of the award pushed the total above $5 billion. It was a major victory for Ukraine. But Russia refused to pay.
于是，在科文顿律师事务所及其他多国律所的协助下，乌克兰国家石油天然气公司（Naftogaz）开始了秘密的全球搜寻，寻找可被查封以偿还其索赔的俄罗斯资产。
So began Naftogaz’s secret global search for Russian assets that could be seized to cover its claim, with help from Covington and multiple law firms in other countries.
部分目标相对容易锁定。据科文顿律师事务所向《华尔街日报》提供的一份清单显示，截至今年秋季，乌克兰国家石油天然气公司已成功查封了价值5亿美元的俄罗斯所有房地产，分别位于芬兰和奥地利。
Some targets were relatively straightforward. By this fall, Naftogaz had secured the seizure of $500 million worth of Russian-owned real estate in Finland and Austria, according to a list shared with The Wall Street Journal by Covington.
此次行动也将目标锁定在挪威。挪威管辖的北极领土斯瓦尔巴群岛（Svalbard）成为重点目标。
The operation also zeroed in on assets in Norway. Svalbard, the Norwegian-held territory in the Arctic, was a particular target.
一个世纪前，该群岛成为挪威主权领土，但根据一项条约，几乎任何国家都可在那里开展商业活动。俄罗斯长期以来一直在群岛上保持存在。
Russia has long maintained a presence on the archipelago, which became sovereign Norwegian territory a century ago but is governed by a treaty that allows almost any country to do business there.
乌克兰战争使这一安排变得复杂。当挪威加入西方对莫斯科的制裁时，它停止向大多数想要前往斯瓦尔巴群岛的俄罗斯人签发签证。经由奥斯陆或特罗姆瑟中转飞行不再是选项。
The war in Ukraine complicated that arrangement. When Norway joined Western sanctions against Moscow, it stopped issuing visas to most Russians wanting to visit Svalbard. Flying through Oslo or Tromso was no longer an option.
“莫尔恰诺夫教授号”（The Professor Molchanov）是一艘科考船，四十多年来一直在北极水域执行科学考察任务，它提供了一条变通路线。去年6月，在长期停航后，它恢复了前往斯瓦尔巴群岛的航行，使得从俄罗斯北部的摩尔曼斯克（Murmansk）直接抵达成为可能。
The Professor Molchanov, a ship that had been traversing Arctic waters on scientific expeditions for more than four decades, offered a workaround. When it resumed voyages to Svalbard in June last year after a long hiatus, it enabled direct passage from Murmansk in Russia’s High North.
这也引起了乌克兰律师奥尔加·伊万尼夫（Olga Ivaniv）的注意。她任职于总部位于奥斯陆的威克博格·雷恩律师事务所（Wikborg Rein），该所一直在海牙协助乌克兰国家石油天然气公司处理案件。她在伦敦办公室工作，某天在网上浏览时发现了这艘科考船。
It also caught the attention of Olga Ivaniv, a Ukrainian lawyer at Oslo-based law firm Wikborg Rein, which has worked on Naftogaz’s case at The Hague. Working out of the firm’s London office, she was browsing online one day when she came across the research vessel.
她了解到该船定期前往巴伦支堡（Barentsburg），经常搭载游客，并找到了一份定于8月下旬启航的航行计划。威克博格律师事务所的律师们得出结论，该船不受国家豁免法保护。他们锁定了目标。
She learned about its regular trips to Barentsburg, often with tourists on board, and found an itinerary for a voyage slated for late August. Wikborg’s lawyers concluded that the ship wasn’t protected by state immunity laws. They had identified their target.
“莫尔恰诺夫教授”号于8月28日从摩尔曼斯克出发。这艘宽度相当于一个足球场的船只，配备了两间酒吧、一座图书馆和一间桑拿房。据随船报道的一名俄罗斯报纸记者称，每天四餐包括炸肉排和土豆泥。餐厅墙壁上装饰着海豹的照片。
The Professor Molchanov set off from Murmansk on Aug. 28. The ship, spanning the width of a soccer pitch, was equipped with two bars, a library and a sauna. Four daily meals included cutlets and mashed potatoes, according to a Russian newspaper reporter on the voyage. Photos of seals decorated the walls of the dining hall.
同一天，维克堡律师事务所的一名高级合伙人致电斯瓦尔巴群岛总督办公室——这位北极群岛的最高执法官员。
The same day a senior partner at Wikborg put in a call to the office of the Svalbard governor—the top law-enforcement official on the Arctic archipelago.
这位合伙人赫尔曼·斯廷是一位拥有近25年经验的航运专家。他已经通知了对斯瓦尔巴群岛拥有管辖权的挪威法院，维克堡将提交紧急请求，授权扣押该船。他现在要给斯瓦尔巴总督拉尔斯·福塞传达一个信息：准备采取行动。
The partner, Herman Steen, is a shipping expert with almost 25 years of experience. He had already alerted a Norwegian court with jurisdiction over Svalbard that Wikborg would file an urgent request to authorize the ship’s seizure. He now had a message for the Svalbard governor, Lars Fause: prepare to act.
这一消息让福塞感到意外。他一直致力于与巴伦支堡保持良好关系，每月造访该镇，与居民以及经营该镇的俄罗斯国有矿业公司阿克蒂库戈尔的董事会面。
The news caught Fause by surprise. He had sought to keep good relations with Barentsburg, visiting the town each month to meet with residents and directors of the Russian state-owned mining company that runs it, Arktikugol.
“这是件大事，”福塞在接受采访时说。“你永远无法确定俄罗斯人在想什么，或者下一步会做什么。”福塞决定不立即实施扣押。当该船于9月1日停靠巴伦支堡时，他的团队登船进行例行边境管制程序。
“It was a big deal,” Fause said in an interview. “You can never be sure about what the Russians are thinking or will do next.”Fause decided against immediately carrying out the seizure. When the ship docked in Barentsburg on Sept. 1, his team boarded to conduct a routine border-control procedure.
据共享给《华尔街日报》的一份扣押报告称，第二天福塞的团队返回送达扣押令时，俄罗斯船长谢尔盖·霍赫洛夫身边陪同着阿克蒂库戈尔的代表，他们拒绝移交船舶文件。
When Fause’s team returned the following day to serve a warrant to seize the ship, the Russian captain Sergei Khokhlov was joined by representatives of Arktikugol who refused to hand over the ship’s documents, according to an arrest report shared with the Journal.
Arktikugol负责人伊尔达尔·涅韦罗夫当时不在镇上，但要求通过电话与一名挪威警察交谈。根据报告及参与案件的律师所述，他表示发生了误会，并要求该警官撤回行动。随后他警告称，扣押船只将导致严重后果，根据报告及在整个扣押过程中与福斯团队保持联系的律师所述。
Ildar Neverov, the head of Arktikugol, was out of town but asked to speak by phone with one of the Norwegian police officers. According to the report and lawyers involved in the case, he suggested a misunderstanding had occurred and asked the officer to withdraw. He then warned that seizing the ship would lead to serious consequences, according to the report and lawyers who retained contact with Fause’s team throughout the seizure.
福斯否认这一说法，并表示行动顺利进行，毫无差池。Arktikugol通过一名女发言人拒绝就本文置评，并禁止《华尔街日报》前往巴伦支堡，该地位于挪威租予俄罗斯的土地上，受私有财产法管辖。
Fause denies this account and said the operation went ahead without a hitch. Arktikugol declined requests to comment for this article through a spokeswoman and barred the Journal from visiting Barentsburg, which is on Norwegian land leased by Russia and subject to private property laws.
这座俄罗斯城镇的一名居民表示，社区对该事件感到震惊。那天是船长的生日，几名船员和当地居民聚在一起为这位资深航海家举杯庆祝。
One resident of the Russian town said the community was shocked by the incident. It was the captain’s birthday, and several crew members and local residents gathered to toast the veteran seafarer.
俄罗斯外交部指责挪威试图将俄罗斯从其居住了几个世纪的北极群岛挤出去。摩尔曼斯克州长警告挪威：“不要唤醒俄罗斯熊。”律师称，扣押“莫尔查诺夫教授”号以及海牙的里程碑式裁决，为其他被俄罗斯征用财产的所有者寻求赔偿铺平了道路。
Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Norway of trying to squeeze Russia out of the Arctic islands it had inhabited for centuries. The governor of Murmansk warned Norway: “Don’t awaken the Russian bear.”Lawyers say the seizure of the Professor Molchanov, and the landmark ruling in The Hague, paves the way for owners of other property expropriated by Russia to pursue compensation.
随着乌克兰东部大片领土自2022年起被俄罗斯军队非法占领，基辅方面可能在国际法庭提起无数此类案件。
With a large part of Ukraine’s east illegally occupied by Russian forces since 2022, myriad such cases could potentially be taken up in international tribunals on Kyiv’s behalf.
但在斯瓦尔巴群岛扣押此类资产可能刚刚变得更难。上个月，挪威政府出台新规，禁止扣押向群岛运送物资的船只。
But capturing such assets on Svalbard might have just become harder. Last month, the Norwegian government introduced new regulations preventing ships bringing supplies to the archipelago from being seized.
奥斯陆大学宪法学教授本内迪克特·莫尔图米尔·霍格贝格表示，挪威正试图阻止其法院被用于俄罗斯资产纠纷。它不希望看到与莫斯科的紧张局势升级，尤其是在斯瓦尔巴群岛。
Benedikte Moltumyr Høgberg, a professor of constitutional law at Oslo University, said Norway is trying to stop its courts from being used in disputes over Russian assets. It doesn’t want to see tensions with Moscow escalate, especially on Svalbard.
“这是一个信号，”霍格贝格谈及新法律时说。“挪威不会让俄罗斯在巴伦支堡的存在变得不可能。”挪威人还有其他问题要担心。在扣押“莫尔恰诺夫教授”号后，他们担心让数十名俄罗斯人滞留在巴伦支堡可能会招致莫斯科的报复。到9月第二周，镇上的食物供应已告急。
“It’s a signal,” Høgberg said of the new law. “Norway is not going to make it impossible for Russia to be in Barentsburg.”The Norwegians had other problems to worry about. After seizing the Professor Molchanov, they feared that keeping dozens of Russians stranded in Barentsburg could prompt retaliation from Moscow. By the second week of September, food supplies in the town were running low.
福塞调拨自己的船只，接走俄罗斯船只的69名乘客和船员，将他们送往挪威城镇朗伊尔城，随后他们从那里飞往挪威东北部，再经陆路跨过边境进入俄罗斯。
Fause allocated his own ship to collect the Russian ship’s 69 passengers and crew and bring them to the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen, from where they flew to northeast Norway and then crossed the border into Russia.
如今，“莫尔恰诺夫教授”号处于一种水中的悬而未决状态，在巴伦支堡港口生锈，而俄罗斯正在海牙提起上诉。即使“乌克兰国家石油天然气公司”最终能够出售这艘43年的老船，也无法在追回其应得的50多亿美元债务方面起多大作用。
Now, the Professor Molchanov is in a watery limbo, rusting in the Barentsburg port as Russia pursues an appeal at The Hague. Even if Naftogaz is ultimately able to sell the 43-year-old ship, it won’t make much of a dent in reclaiming the more than $5 billion it is owed.
但该公司首席执行官谢尔盖·费多连科表示，这并非重点。重要的是，它在距离乌克兰数千英里之外的寒冷远北地区捕获了一项俄罗斯资产。这本身也传递了一个信息。
But the company’s CEO, Serhiy Fedorenko, says that isn’t the point. What matters is that it captured a Russian asset thousands of miles from Ukraine in the frigid far north. That sends a message of its own.
“我们将继续在全球范围内追查俄罗斯资产，直到判给我们的赔偿金得到全额支付，”费多连科说。
“We will continue to pursue Russian assets around the world until the compensation awarded to us is paid in full,” Fedorenko said.