Russian fishing billionaire Vitaly Orlov sues Norwegian newspaper over sanctions reports

Russian fishing billionaire Vitaly Orlov has sued The Barents Observer, a small Norwegian news outlet, for defamation in London's High Court over its coverage of European sanctions against his company, Norebo.

The claim, which runs to about 100 pages, targets five articles the outlet published between May 21, 2025, and Jan. 7, 2026, about sanctions the European Union and Norway imposed on Norebo. Orlov is seeking damages, the removal of the articles and an injunction barring the outlet from publishing "the same or similar imputations" in the future. The amount of damages he is seeking has not been disclosed.

Lawyers from Devonshire Solicitors, the London firm acting for Orlov, delivered the papers by hand to the outlet's office in Kirkenes, a town on Norway's border with Russia, on Sept. 24. The claim says "the Claimant's reputation has been damaged, and he has been caused continuing distress, hurt and embarrassment." The named defendants are editor Thomas Nilsen and co-founder Atle Staalesen, who own the nonprofit outlet and had 35 days to respond. The court has not set a hearing date.

Sanctions at the center

The EU added Norebo and another Murmansk-based fishing company, Murman Seafood, to its sanctions list on May 20, 2025, under rules aimed at Russian hybrid threats. The EU said the companies' vessels were part of a Russian state-backed surveillance and intelligence effort targeting undersea infrastructure. Norway followed in July 2025, freezing the companies' assets, closing its ports and territorial waters to their ships and, as a general rule, denying their vessels licenses to fish in its economic zone.

"Such activity may facilitate future sabotage operations and threaten important Norwegian security policy interests," Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said at the time.

Norebo has rejected the accusations. In a statement after the EU listing, the company said it had "at all times acted according to the laws of the countries and waters it operated in" and described itself as "entirely non-political." It said there was no evidence that could "ever substantiate their incorrect claims."

Norebo took the Norwegian state to court over the fishing ban, and a Norwegian district court ruled against the company in early 2026, agreeing with the Foreign Ministry that the country's sanctions law prevents fisheries officials from granting its vessels licenses.

Outlet calls the suit an attack

The Barents Observer says its reporting relied on the EU Council's own listing and other sources, including Norebo's press releases, and that it did not make the intelligence link itself. In an editorial on Oct. 17, the outlet called the lawsuit "absurd and dirty" and said it was meant to intimidate it and other media. It said it would keep reporting on Norebo.

Nilsen has said a loss would bankrupt the outlet, which has six employees, and that its legal costs already run into millions of Norwegian kroner. He has questioned why the case was brought in London rather than Norway or Russia, telling the court that no more than 5% of the outlet's readers are in Britain. About 10 Norwegian and international outlets covered Norebo and the sanctions, according to Nilsen, but The Barents Observer is the only one Orlov has sued.

Orlov's lawyers have said the case is not intended to silence the outlet. They said it was filed in England because The Barents Observer publishes in English, and that the English court will decide any dispute over jurisdiction.

Jon Wessel-Aas, a Norwegian media lawyer, said the London venue makes the defense more expensive for the outlet and that the case resembles a SLAPP, or strategic lawsuit against public participation, a tactic used to silence critics through costly litigation. Britain's courts have long been a favored venue for wealthy claimants in libel cases, and the country has moved to curb such suits in recent years.

Murmansk fishing group

Orlov, a co-founder of Norebo in the 1990s, built it into one of Russia's largest fishing groups. The company is based in Murmansk, where it is among the biggest employers and taxpayers, and its trawlers catch cod and haddock in the Barents Sea. He has fought in London courts before, in a long ownership dispute with former partners that was settled in the High Court in 2021.

The Barents Observer has its own history of conflict with Moscow. Russia has put it on its list of "undesirable organizations," and Nilsen has been declared persona non grata by the country's security service.