Image for representation purposes only Russia has installed heavy machine guns on one of its most important commercial vessels operating in the Baltic Sea, according to reports and surveillance images released by Estonian authorities. The move appears to be the first documented case of military-grade weapons being placed on a civilian Russian ship in the region. Images taken by an Estonian Police and Border Guard Board surveillance aircraft in May reportedly show the Gazprom-operated liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker Marshal Vasilevskiy carrying two sandbag-protected firing positions fitted with 12.7 mm Kord heavy machine guns. The vessel was sailing past Estonia’s western islands toward the Russian port of Bolshoy Bor in the Gulf of Finland. The installation follows heightened security concerns over possible Ukrainian drone attacks and closer European scrutiny of Russian vessels in the Baltic. The images were first obtained by Estonian newspaper Eesti Ekspress and reported by investigative journalist Holger Roonemaa. The 945-foot, 118,000-gross-ton vessel is owned by Gazprom and transports liquefied natural gas between mainland Russia and the Kaliningrad exclave. Since last August, it has completed four voyages between Bolshoy Bor and Kaliningrad. Unlike Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which is used to transport sanctioned Russian oil, the Marshal Vasilevskiy has a different role. It is Russia’s only Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU), capable of receiving liquefied natural gas, storing it, converting it back into gas, and feeding it into Kaliningrad’s gas network. According to a Baltic Sea intelligence officer quoted in the reports, the machine guns were likely installed to protect the vessel from possible Ukrainian naval drone attacks and to show Russia’s willingness to defend the ship if it is stopped or inspected. The officer said the weapons would be of limited use against aerial drones, which have recently targeted