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Russian LNG tanker spotted with machine guns mounted on wheelhouse in Baltic Sea
Estonian border guards have spotted the 'MArshall Vailevskiy' armed with machine guns in the Baltic Sea for the first time. Experts interpreted this as Russia's response to Ukrainian drone attacks. During a surveillance flight over the Baltic Sea, security forces photographed the Russian LNG tanker. The images were presumably taken north of the Estonian island of Hiiumaa, near the entrance to the Gulf of Finland. Upon reviewing the images, the officers discovered two heavy machine guns at different positions above the bridge of the LNG carrier. Analysts said they are 12.7 millimeter caliber Kord heavy machine guns, which were introduced by the Russian military in the 1990s. Wooden pallets and sandbags were used to establish four firing positions at each of the corners above the bridge wings.In addition to the guns, apparently for protection against enemy fire. In recent months it had already been revealed that armed personnel were being deployed on Russian ships in the Baltic Sea. However, such heavy armament on a civilian vessel was a new discovery. German Navy officers had not previously observed any such armament of Russian civilian vessels in the Baltic Sea. The "Marshal Vasilevskiy" belongs to the Russian energy company Gazprom. It is one of the few Russian ships capable of both transporting LNG and converting liquefied LNG into gas. The ship can therefore also be used as a floating gas terminal. In recent years, the "Marshal Vasilevskiy" has been used to supply the strategically important exclave of Kaliningrad with LNG. According to analysts, the ship provides a strategic reserve for the energy infrastructure of this Russian territory. Kaliningrad, separated from the rest of Russia by Lithuania and Latvia, is supplied by a gas pipeline that runs through Lithuanian territory. Russian strategists fear that in the event of a conflict, the Russian exclave could be left without gas. The "Marshal Vasilevskiy" is intended to prevent or at least mitigate precisely this scenario. Report with photos: https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/ndr-wdr/russland-tanker-waffen-100.html
Explosion destroyed boiler
The "Marshal Vasilevskiy" suffered an explosion of one of the six regasification boilers during trials off Ulsan on May 14, 2018. The boiler, produced by Mitsubishi, was destroyed in the incident. The delivery date will be postponed. Reportedly, there were other damages besides the destroyed boiler. The ship is to be used in the Kaliningrad region after delivery.
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