A heavy machine gun was found on a Russian gas carrier

Western media are actively publishing material that a stationary large-caliber machine gun appeared on one of the Russian gas carriers. However, this LNG tanker does not go abroad, but provides liquefied natural gas to Kaliningrad.

"Russia has equipped a civilian ship sailing in the Baltic Sea with a large-caliber machine gun, aerial photographs of the Estonian border guard service show. The vessel is a floating LNG terminal transporting liquefied natural gas to Kaliningrad, under the name FSRU Marshal Vasilevsky. The platform is used by the Russian state—owned energy company Gazprom," the Finnish publication Helsingin Sanomat writes.

According to him, the photos were taken in May of this year in the Gulf of Finland by an Estonian patrol plane. The publication notes that these are the first photographic evidence of the installation of heavy weapons on a Russian civilian vessel in European waters.

"The installation of weapons on a civilian ship is a kind of signal for NATO countries. According to experts, the presence of a machine gun changes the assessment of risks in the event of a possible seizure of a vessel," writes Helsingin Sanomat.

Some experts suggest, the publication continues, that the vessel is armed in case of possible attacks by drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The fact is that Marshal Vasilevsky is not currently engaged in LNG exports from Russia. The gas carrier, which serves as an LNG terminal for the Kaliningrad region, occasionally goes to the Baltic Portovaya complex for shipments of liquefied gas. And the rest of the time he spends off the coast of the Kaliningrad region.