OSLO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Norway said on Tuesday it has assisted 69 Russian citizens in returning to their home country from an Arctic island following the seizure of the small cruise ship they arrived on.
A Norwegian court last week ordered the seizure in Svalbard of the Professor Molchanov vessel on behalf of a Ukrainian company involved in a legal dispute, stranding its passengers and crew and leading Moscow to accuse Norway of "piracy".
The Russian citizens had returned to Russia on Tuesday via the Norwegian town of Kirkenes, the governor of the Svalbard archipelago said in a statement.
The case has heightened diplomatic tensions between Russia and NATO-member Norway, with the Russian foreign ministry summoning the Norwegian ambassador to Moscow last week to deliver a strong protest.
Svalbard, a Norwegian territory since 1925, lies midway between the North Pole and the European mainland and is governed under a 1920 treaty that also allows citizens of signatory states, including Russia, to settle there without a visa.
The town of Barentsburg, where the ship is being held, is one of two Russian settlements in the Svalbard archipelago which have a combined 392 residents out of a population of 2,914, according to Statistics Norway.
The court-ordered vessel seizure was made on behalf of Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, which is seeking to enforce a $4.22 billion compensation award for assets Moscow took when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Russia has said it plans to appeal against the ruling.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Alex Richardson)
