Russian authorities equip a civilian vessel with heavy weaponry for the first time, Dossier reports

Russian authorities have equipped a civilian vessel with heavy weaponry for the first time, reports Dossier

The Russian tanker Marshal Vasilevsky has been equipped with two heavy machine guns, while servicemen from the National Guard and the Defense Ministry, as well as FSB personnel, are permanently stationed on board. This is reported by the Dossier Center.

Photos of the tanker were taken in May 2026 by Estonia’s Border Guard, which then passed them on to journalists. According to Dossier, this is the only known case in which a civilian vessel has been equipped with heavy weaponry.

The Gazprom-owned tanker Marshal Vasilevsky is the only floating regasification unit in Russia, Dossier writes: the vessel converts LNG from a liquid state into a gaseous one, after which the gas becomes suitable for household use.

In the view of an intelligence source in one of the Baltic states, “the weapons were placed on board 50% to repel attacks by Ukrainian naval drones and 50% as a signal to the West.”

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