Vitalij Orlov sues Barents Observer in London – press freedom at stake

The lawsuit against Barents Observer drew wide coverage on 17 October. The Russian fishing billionaire Vitalij Orlov, owner of the fishing group Norebo, has sued the Norwegian online newspaper over five articles about the company and the sanctions against it. The court papers were served at the newsroom in Kirkenes on 24 September 2026. Orlov is demanding damages and an injunction against repeating the same or similar allegations.

For editor Thomas Nilsen, the cost of defending the journalism could threaten the paper’s survival. The newsroom covers Russia and the High North from the Norwegian border town and also publishes for Russian readers. A court case in London could therefore affect access to independent journalism on both sides of the border.

EU accuses the fishing group of intelligence activity

The background is a decision by the Council of the EU on 20 May 2025. The Council added Norebo to its sanctions list and linked the company’s vessels to a Russian state surveillance campaign targeting civilian and military infrastructure. In its justification, the Council wrote that the activity could facilitate future sabotage operations.

Norebo rejected the accusations. The company described its operations as civilian and commercial and contested the basis for the sanctions. Barents Observer and several other media outlets reported on the decision, the company’s reactions and the consequences for the fishing industry.

On 7 July 2025, the Norwegian government announced that Norway would join the sanctions. The listings were incorporated into Norwegian law on 10 July and affected the company’s access to ports, services and fishing permits. The case therefore also touched Norwegian jobs, fisheries cooperation with Russia and security along the coast.

Norebo challenged the measures in court. On 30 July 2025, Norebo Holding brought an action against the Council of the EU. In Norway, group companies later sought an interim injunction concerning fishing permits. The petition was rejected in January 2026, in a ruling on the right to fish while the dispute continued.

From legal threat to court papers in Kirkenes

At the same time, journalists were facing legal demands. Barents Observer says it received a threat of legal action in January 2026. Fiskeribladet, a Norwegian trade paper for the fishing industry, received a notice in April demanding that articles be taken down and threatening a lawsuit in England.

Fiskeribladet hired media lawyer Jon Wessel-Aas and rejected the demands. The paper’s then editor-in-chief, Øystein Hage, maintained that it had followed standard journalistic practice and had given the company the opportunity to respond to the criticism. Wessel-Aas saw the approach as an attempt to scare the newsroom away from further coverage.

On 24 September, a representative of Orlov’s English lawyers travelled to Kirkenes and served the claim on Barents Observer. The case concerns five articles published between May 2025 and January 2026. The dispute had thus moved from lawyers’ letters to court proceedings in London.

When the case received wide coverage on 17 October, Nilsen described the lawsuit as an attack on the paper’s operations. Wessel-Aas assessed it as a SLAPP suit: a strategic lawsuit used to pressure critics through the burden of the proceedings themselves.

Orlov’s lawyers dispute this characterization. They argue that the articles contain false and defamatory claims and say their client is seeking an apology and damages. The company’s position is that accurate reporting on the sanctions is legitimate, whereas concrete allegations of espionage require documentation tied to Norebo.

The lawyers also told NRK, Norway’s public broadcaster, that Fiskeribladet would be spared an English claim. NRK has received a lawyer’s letter criticizing its own coverage and its documentary series Skyggekrigen (Shadow War). The only lawsuit documented among these three newsrooms is the one against Barents Observer.

The cost may decide who dares to investigate power

A hearing is scheduled for 17 November 2026 in Luxembourg in Norebo Holding’s case against the Council of the EU, where the challenge to the sanctions listing will be heard. Meanwhile, the journalists in Kirkenes must spend money and working hours defending their coverage in London.

The right to have defamatory allegations tested is part of the rule of law. Press freedom also requires that newsrooms have a real opportunity to defend their journalism. When the costs can threaten an entire paper, the lawsuit has an effect that reaches far beyond the five articles.

A bankruptcy would mean fewer journalists investigating power, business and security on Europe’s border with Russia. Other small newsrooms may weigh the lawyer’s bill before they even start digging. The greatest consequence for press freedom may be the stories that are never investigated, and the information the public loses as a result.