Machine guns spotted on Gazprom tanker in the Baltic Sea — the first time Russia has armed a civilian vessel with heavy weapons

Estonia’s border guard service has photographed two large-caliber machine guns mounted aboard the Russian gas tanker Marshal Vasilevskiy in the Baltic Sea, the investigative project the Dossier Center reported.

The photographs, taken in May and shared with journalists by the border guard service, show two Kord heavy machine guns — 12.7 millimeters (0.5 inches) in caliber — mounted on the ship’s wheelhouse, one on each side, with sandbags protecting the firing positions.

The Dossier Center notes that this is the only known case of a Russian civilian vessel being equipped with weapons.

The outlet also found, based on a review of passenger lists from August 2025, that military personnel from the FSB, the Russian National Guard, and the Defense Ministry are regularly stationed aboard the tanker. Of the 50 people aboard, at least 24 have served or currently serve in the security forces.

Experts who spoke to journalists said machine guns are ineffective against aerial drones, but noted that given the tanker’s operating area near the shores of the Kaliningrad region, the weapons may be part of Moscow’s strategy to defend the region, the Dossier Center reported.

A source in one of the Baltic intelligence services told journalists that the move was 50% a signal to the West, adding that they were not planning to board the ship anyway, but that if rumors spread that shadow fleet vessels carry heavy machine guns, the risk assessment for Western countries considering boarding would be completely different.

The gas tanker Marshal Vasilevskiy is owned by Gazprom, which did not respond to questions about why the guns were needed.

The only Russian gas carrier to have been attacked at sea so far — though in the Mediterranean Sea rather than the Black Sea — is the Arctic Metagaz. In early March, a fire broke out on board the vessel, reportedly after it was struck by a naval drone. The crew was evacuated, while the gas carrier, which had sustained a hull breach, was left adrift with a cargo of liquefied natural gas.

Russian authorities say the attack was carried out by Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels. French outlet RFI, citing sources, also reported that Ukrainian forces based in Libya under an agreement with the Libyan government were behind the attack. Vladimir Putin described the incident as a “terrorist attack.”