What Does Mr. Macron Think About It? --- Russian civilian ship armed with heavy machine guns in Baltic Sea

“According to photos published by investigative journalists, Russia has equipped a gas tanker sailing in the Baltic Sea with heavy machine guns. It is said that this is the first recorded case of a Russian civilian ship operating in the region with mounted weapons.

 

Photos taken by the Estonian Border Guard Service during a reconnaissance flight over the Gulf of Finland in early May show a heavy machine gun mounted on the Marshal Vasilevsky, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker that regularly transports the valuable fuel between the Russian mainland and Kaliningrad. The reports also claim that the ship was carrying “passengers” associated with Russian military intelligence. The Marshal Vasilevsky is operated by Gazprom and also functions as a floating LNG terminal capable of converting liquefied gas back into a gaseous state.

 

Several news agencies from across Europe have been working on the investigation into the vessel, and Estonian news website Delfi reported that surveillance footage is the first evidence of a Russian civilian ship carrying weapons in the Baltic Sea. The reports say the weapons are 12.7mm Kord heavy machine guns with a range of up to two kilometers. A Baltic Sea intelligence official believes the weapons were deployed for two reasons: to protect the ship from possible attacks by Ukrainian military drones and to show strength to Western countries, Militarnyj reported. However, the source noted that the guns are practically ineffective against aerial drones, which have been regularly attacking Russian infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. At the same time, the weapons could pose a threat to naval drones — although Ukraine does not yet use them in the Baltic region. The commander of the Danish Navy and independent analyst Jens Wenzel Khristoffersen believes that this weaponry primarily performs a psychological function.

 

According to him, Russia seeks to demonstrate its readiness to use force against any attempts to inspect or detain the ship.

 

The publication notes that the ship “Marshal Vasilevsky” does not belong to the so-called shadow fleet, which, bypassing sanctions, transports Russian oil. This ship performs another strategic function – it delivers liquefied natural gas to the Kaliningrad region.

 

Since August last year, this tanker has made four voyages between the port of Bolshoi Bor and Kaliningrad. It is the only Russian FSRU (floating storage and gas recovery unit) ship capable of receiving liquefied natural gas, storing it, restoring it to a gaseous state and supplying it to the gas transmission system. Given its special importance for the energy supply of Kaliningrad, Ukraine may consider this ship a potential target.

 

The ship’s passengers

 

Journalists involved in the project have found that the ship has previously carried passengers with a military background, including some linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Lists obtained by the journalists revealed that as of August 2025, 50 passengers (not counting the crew) had been registered on the ship, and the independent Russian investigative portal Dossier Center concluded that 22 of them had previous ties to Russian military structures. One of them, Dmitry Artemenko, is registered at the address of an FSB special forces unit in Balashikha near Moscow, according to investigators, and has accompanied the tanker on each of its voyages to Kaliningrad. All this comes amid heightened tensions in the Baltic Sea, where in recent months countries have detained ships suspected of damaging underwater cables, including tankers linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, TVP World reports.”