A trawler suspected of espionage has had a stopover in Iceland

At least one of the 50 Russian ships suspected of spying and sabotaging infrastructure at sea in the Nordic jurisdictions has had a stopover in Iceland. It is not unlikely that there may be many more.

Russian trawler Melkart 5 is suspected of having been involved when two communication cables between Svalbard and Norway were damaged. The trawler, operated by Murman Seafood, has had a stopover here, and attended services at Slippurinn Akureyri in 2020, among other places, when it was painted, ax-drawn and main engine was checked.

The in-depth coverage of the spying activities of Russian civilian ships by the state broadcasters of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden shows that Norwegian police suspected that Melkart 5 pulled a cable shutter along the seabed to damage the cables, but because of unclear legislation the case was dropped.

The ship operator rejects any accusations.

Have been subject to an investigation

Melkart 5 is currently in stationed in Þórshöfn, Faroe Islands, where the Russian trawler Lira is also located at the pier, as stated in a discussion by Faroese National Radio.

According to the Nordic news media coverage, Norwegian police officers on patrol found a locked cell on board and found a man sitting by a Soviet-made radio. Such a communication device was also found in trawler Ester.

The list of the 50 ships in question has not been published in its entirety, but there are examples of Russian ships that have stopped in Iceland that were being investigated in Norway. For example, representatives of the Norwegian Coast Guard, the police and the customs chief boarded the yacht Ragnar in February last year while it was docked in North Norway. The previous summer, the yacht had been traveling in Iceland, among other things.

Ola Kaldager, a former Norwegian intelligence chief, said it was common for Russian naval vessels to come to Norway to gather technical information, informants and intercept communications, especially around NATO exercises.

The yacht Ragnar is not only equipped to travel through up to 50 centimeters of thick ice, but also equipped with a helipad, along with space for an exploration submarine, a rib-boat, two sea-jets and an armoured vehicle of the Ripsaw EV2.

Number of vessels

A large number of Russian civilian ships have made stops in Icelandic jurisdiction and it is not unlikely that more of the 50 suspect ships have made their way here. In addition, Icelandic service companies have for many years served a large number of Russian ships.

To date, no information has been gathered on whether Russian ships have been observed to be atypical in Icelandic jurisdiction, as in the North Sea, as they are considered to have monitored energy and communication infrastructure on the seabed, bridges, airports and harbours.