Armed Russian ship previously docked in Rotterdam patrols Baltic Sea near NATO waters

A Russian liquefied natural gas carrier that previously docked in Rotterdam has been fitted with heavy machine guns and is now operating in the Baltic Sea waters near Estonia, Finland, and Lithuania. Russian military personnel and intelligence-linked security staff are reportedly aboard, according to images and investigative findings from Pointer.

The vessel, the Marshal Vasilevskiy, is a nearly 300-meter floating liquefied natural gas storage and processing installation owned by the Russian state energy company Gazprom. An LNG carrier is a specialized ship designed to store and transport liquefied natural gas at extremely low temperatures.

The ship was photographed in mid-May by the Estonian Border Guard while sailing in Estonian waters. Images taken from a surveillance aircraft show two heavy machine guns mounted on top of the ship’s bridge, positioned at both ends. Sandbags and pallets were placed around the weapons to stabilize firing positions.

Defense expert Patrick Bolder of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies reviewed the images and described the weapons as long-barreled, tripod-mounted systems intended for long-range fire against other vessels.

“They are purely intended to fire at other vessels from a long distance,” Bolder told Pointer. “The sandbags and pallets are mainly there to give the shooter a stable firing position, where they can rest their elbows.”

A European intelligence service source identified the weapons as Kord 12.7mm heavy machine guns, Pointer reports. They are capable of firing 10 to 12 rounds per second and can strike targets at distances of up to two kilometers. “So this is not something for a hobbyist,” Bolder said. “You really need to be trained to handle weapons like this.”

Investigators from the Dossier Center, founded by Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, obtained crew lists for the vessel. They found that since August 2025, every voyage of the Marshal Vasilevskiy has included personnel with Russian military backgrounds. At least 24 individuals have reportedly been identified as having current or past service in the Russian armed forces, National Guard, or the FSB security service.

“These military personnel are likely part of a protection unit assigned to safeguard the ship,” Bolder said to Pointer. “And that has to be done day and night. They need to sleep, eat, and train. So you need about four people per position.”

Between 2019 and 2021, the vessel repeatedly docked at the Maasvlakte in the Rotterdam port. Since then, it has mainly operated on a fixed route between Gazprom’s Portovaya LNG terminal in Oblast Leningrad, near Saint Petersburg, and Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave located between Poland and Lithuania.

The ship transports liquefied natural gas to supply Kaliningrad, which relies on this maritime route as Moscow seeks to reduce dependence on pipeline gas passing through Lithuania. President Vladimir Putin said in 2019 that the system is more expensive but “reduces the risks for gas transport.”

Western countries have increasingly targeted Russian maritime logistics linked to its so-called shadow fleet. The United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada have imposed sanctions on the Marshal Vasilevskiy. At the same time, Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russian maritime assets. In March, Ukrainian drones sank the LNG carrier Arctic Metagaz in the Mediterranean Sea.

It is against that backdrop that Russia has reportedly armed the Marshal Vasilevskiy and deployed military personnel aboard.

“It is very important for Russia to maintain that logistics line,” Bolder told Pointer about the route. “Kaliningrad is also an important nuclear base for the Russians.”

Bolder said the heavy machine guns are not effective against drones. “You don’t stop flying drones with heavy machine guns like those on the ship’s bridge,” he said. “The recoil is enormous. You also have to account for movement, wind, and your breathing. If you shift your barrel by half a millimeter, at 1,000 meters that results in a huge deviation, and you miss your target. In other words, it is like trying to hit a mosquito with a cannon.” He added that sea drones are also difficult to target because they often operate just below or just above the water surface.

The weapons, he said, appear primarily intended as deterrence against boarding. “It is a message to NATO: do not board us, because that would trigger a war,” Bolder said.

Danish naval analyst Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen agreed. “It is meant as a signal to NATO: stay away from this ship,” he said. He warned that escalation risk would be significant if forces attempted intervention. “Once warning shots are fired, targeted fire typically follows,” he said. “And it is a gas carrier, so you have to be careful where you shoot. If you hit the cargo, it goes boom.”

An intelligence source told Pointer that the effect is primarily psychological. “If the story spreads that shadow fleet vessels can carry heavy machine guns, the risk assessment for boarding will change completely,” the source said. “The chance that someone boards will be zero. No one will approach such a ship by helicopter. So if that is the intention, Russia has succeeded.”

Analysts describe the situation as part of a wider maritime power contest in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, where NATO expansion with Finland and Sweden has increased tensions.

“The Baltic Sea is almost a NATO inland sea now,” Bolder said. “Russia is showing: we control our shipping routes and our ships, even inside what is effectively NATO waters. It is a kind of gorilla behavior. Very threatening, and that is exactly the intention.”