To an outsider, the research boats bobbing in the frigid and stormy Beaufort Sea off Alaska would seem little cause for alarm. Oil and gas companies have regularly explored the area for decades.
For this project, businessmen from the United Arab Emirates were touting a plan to tap the vast natural gas reserves that lay beneath the tundra of Alaska’s North Slope. They promised the operation would eventually be American-owned. No one could dispute Alaska’s dire energy needs — not to mention the potential for lucrative exports.
The surveyors last year used specialized equipment to map the depth and shape of the seabed, collect samples of shallow marine sediments and conduct sonar scans to check for obstructions such as shipwrecks. Documents show that their work was not far, as the crow flies, from the start of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System — a cornerstone of U.S. energy production. An Air Force long-range radar station sat just to the west. More than 100 miles off the coast, the Navy’s fast-attack nuclear submarines sometimes practiced surfacing through the thick Arctic ice.
But this project was far from routine. While the contractors performing the work were American, the UAE company paying for the surveys was actually being steered by Russia’s liquefied natural gas giant, Novatek — a company under partial U.S. sanctions, documents and interviews show.
The proposal to create an LNG processing plant on Alaska’s coast has already put reams of scientific data about the strategically critical region within reach of Novatek’s leader, an oligarch who is close to President Vladimir Putin, a ProPublica investigation found.
The Financial Times and The New York Times reported on the Russian ties to the venture last month. But the extent to which the company gathered detailed information about sensitive areas of Alaska has not been previously disclosed.
Such information is highly valuable in the ever-changing and unpredictable Arctic, with its potential routes for both naval ships and missiles. Norwegian security services and U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns this year about the danger of increased spy and sabotage operations by Russia in the Arctic.
Russia-backed information gathering so close to the U.S. shoreline can be seen as “a direct challenge to sovereignty and security,” said Heather Conley, a former State Department official who is now a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute.
“It’s super, super sensitive,” she said, adding, “Any scientific data, it immediately is dual use,” meaning it can serve both military and civilian ends.
Information on changing sea ice and other conditions off the North Slope could help Russia plan activities that undermine U.S. security, said Troy Bouffard, director of the Center for Arctic Security and Resilience at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The fact that the surveys were given permits and done without interference could be seen as an intelligence failure, he said.
Bouffard added that it’s “highly unlikely” that intelligence personnel didn’t learn of the effort because any work in the austere, remote and militarily sensitive North Slope area stands out.
“All this is really surprising,” Bouffard said. “Should not have happened.”
The surveys were conducted in the second half of 2025, paused during harsh weather, then restarted in mid-2026, documents and sources say. By late August 2026, dozens of contractors were stationed on three large vessels — the Annika Marie, the Ukpik and the Uŋalaq — loaded with equipment for tasks such as monitoring waves, testing currents, and tides, and drilling core samples in the mud, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Then, in September, the CEO of the project’s U.S. arm, Polar Train LNG, resigned, questioned the operation’s legality and asserted it was a Russian ploy to gain control of a strategic U.S. asset, Alaska’s natural gas reserves.
In 2025, the survey work was focused on an area just west of Prudhoe Bay, which is near where the pipeline originates, documents and sources say. The next year, as the area thawed, Polar Train’s CEO, Joel Riddle, and his team told his financiers that location was not ideal for an LNG operation because of the high cost of dredging that would be needed and the potential to interfere with whaling by local residents. They urged the company’s UAE parent to focus on a site more than 250 miles to the west.
But the UAE company asserted its control over the purportedly American outfit Riddle led in late August and ordered the contractors offshore to head back to a site closer to Prudhoe Bay. Riddle resigned the next month, on Sept. 19, warning that Polar Train’s “investments” were “very likely sooner or later to trigger” a federal inquiry.
Polar Train had applied to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control the month before, seeking a waiver of U.S. sanctions to allow it to purchase a partially built LNG plant sitting in a Murmansk, Russia, shipyard and transport it to Alaska.
“Deploying this technology in Alaska serves not only to unlock U.S. LNG resources in the Pacific basin closer to key export markets in Asia,” said the application, which ProPublica obtained, “but also to ensure this cutting-edge equipment is deployed primarily to the benefit of the United States rather than Russia.”
The six-page application did not make clear who was behind the effort, steering the financing and decision-making needed to get the venture off the ground. The document’s digital properties held a clue: Many computer applications include what is known as metadata in a document that can reveal who has previously worked on it. In this instance, the OFAC application was signed by a lawyer in Washington, D.C., but the author’s name was listed in the metadata in Cyrillic: Evgeniya Kononova, a lawyer whose LinkedIn profile says she is deputy head of legal for Novatek in Moscow.
Novatek said in a statement to ProPublica that it “provided technical and other information” about its equipment for the waiver request, providing “comments to the draft application.” The company did not answer a list of specific questions, including inquiries about Kononova’s role.
It’s not clear whether the Russian natural gas executives backing the project hope to operate an LNG plant in Alaska or have a more immediate goal in mind — like finishing the incomplete plant that sanctions had stranded in Russia or gathering intelligence for the Kremlin in a strategically important region.
In a statement to ProPublica, Novatek denied it is gathering intelligence through the project, saying: “We state clearly and categorically: any such claims or implications are false.”
Novatek said it is “focused on utilizing its technology in Alaska and views this opportunity as a standalone and self-sufficient project.” The company said decisions about the project’s surveys “and other operational matters” were made by Polar Train and its UAE parent, Tech Wave Industrial Project Management.
The revelations about the Alaska LNG project come as the Trump administration has scaled back rules requiring U.S. companies to report their true owners, cut back counterintelligence squads in the FBI and disbanded a Department of Justice task force aimed at seizing Russian oligarchs’ assets.
Reduced staffing makes counterintelligence more difficult, said Emily Harding, a former CIA analyst and former deputy director of the Senate intelligence committee under Republicans.
“It’s not just that you need people knowledgeable about the counterintelligence mission, but you need people knowledgeable about highly technical topical areas,” she said. “That’s a big problem in normal times, but especially hard when staffing is down.”
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment last week.
ProPublica’s account of the Polar Train LNG project is drawn from interviews with a dozen people and documents that include corporate records, correspondence, and memos, as well as presentations detailing the survey work, budgets, a wire transfer receipt, and loan agreements.
On Saturday, Polar Train LNG said its research in Alaska “involved a standard set of surveys routinely conducted by companies worldwide.” The data collected is not classified, it said, and “all activities complied with applicable laws.” The purpose of the work was to find an appropriate site for the LNG project, the company said.
The White House has sought to leverage energy deals involving Russia as an incentive to negotiate an end to the war with Ukraine. Putin has spoken publicly about his desire to cooperate with the U.S. in the Arctic, potentially through Novatek.
“We are discussing with our American partners the possibility of working together in this field, not only in our Arctic zone but also in Alaska,” he said in August 2025, days after meeting with Trump at a summit in Anchorage.
In September, Putin talked about Polar Train LNG’s project with President Donald Trump’s peace envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, The New York Times reported last month. Polar Train’s U.S. parent has also filed an application with the Treasury Department in hopes of importing LNG to Alaska directly from Russia, according to a person familiar with the request.
When he resigned as CEO, Riddle accused Novatek of “financing and ultimately controlling the strategic direction” of the supposedly American-led Polar Train.
Polar Train, now under new leadership, denied that Novatek is “secretly financing” the project, in a statement it posted on its website.
All three companies said Novatek had agreed to buy a minority stake in the Alaska operation and had paid Tech Wave an undisclosed amount of money. The deal, they said, is contingent on Tech Wave attracting American investment totaling more than 50%. Novatek simultaneously said it “did not provide any funding to the Project.”
”We would like to note, however, that provision of debt financing, including to U.S. persons, is not prohibited.” Novatek did not answer questions from ProPublica about whether it has provided debt financing to the Alaska project.
In its website statement, Polar Train called Riddle “a disgruntled employee” and said he was “recently terminated from the company for cause.”
“You can’t legally terminate someone who’s already resigned,” Riddle said. Tech Wave’s termination notice, which accused Riddle of announcing plans to launch a competing LNG project, was dated six days after his resignation, copies of both documents show. The notice was signed by a new acting CEO, Tim Talkington.
In a statement to ProPublica on Saturday, Talkington said that the U.S. has “a generational opportunity to advance U.S. energy dominance, unlock profound benefits for the state of Alaska, and strengthen American Arctic navigation.”
An Audacious Plan
The audacious LNG project was launched in 2025, when a half dozen executives with ExxonMobil sat down with representatives of Abu Dhabi-based Tech Wave Industrial Project Management, which was eyeing Alaska for an LNG facility, according to a person familiar with the project.
Tech Wave was 95% owned by Norwegian Bjorn Gundersen. He’d served as a deputy director for Novatek and played a key role in developing one of the most technologically ambitious LNG projects ever, known as Arctic LNG 2, on the Gydan Peninsula in Russia’s Far North. Gundersen and Tech Wave’s CEO, Rajeev Lehar, assured Exxon and others that no Russian money was involved in their project, the person said.
Tech Wave said in a statement Saturday that “Novatek offers the only proven technology suited to Arctic conditions” that also meets the project’s timeline. The company’s expertise is “informed in part” by Gundersen’s experience working on Arctic LNG 2, the company said.
Reached in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Gundersen declined to comment. Exxonmobil did not respond to a request for comment.
Tech Wave’s plan was to seek permission to buy state-of-the-art natural gas equipment from Novatek that was meant for Arctic LNG 2 before U.S. economic sanctions prevented the company from finishing the work. The incomplete apparatus, built atop a concrete platform that is the size of nearly 10 football fields, was sitting in a Russian shipyard. Tech Wave wanted to bring the equipment by sea to Alaska’s North Slope, where it could begin processing and selling millions of metric tons of liquified natural gas that had been trapped in the ground for decades. The project would need to reach an agreement with the oil and gas companies already working in the area, since the natural gas it wanted was a byproduct of their extraction work.
Tech Wave had been exploring possible sites for the plant in the summer of 2025, before its leaders met with the Exxon executives, according to documents obtained by ProPublica and interviews.
It also dispatched the first group of surveyors who worked off the coast near Prudhoe Bay, collecting detailed information about the seabed.
Riddle was hired in March 2026 as Polar Train LNG’s CEO. Documents show his employment agreement was signed by Gentry Beach, a Texas investor who was a college friend of Donald Trump Jr. and helped raise money for President Trump’s campaign in 2016. Beach, who took part in meetings about the Alaska project, later told The Financial Times that he had an “incredible relationship” with oligarch Leonid Mikhelson, the Novatek founder and CEO.
Beach did not respond to requests for comment. Novatek said “Gentry Beach has no connection” with the company.
Riddle previously led the Australian fracking operation Tamboran Resources, where he developed a business relationship with Chris Wright, who was confirmed as Trump’s energy secretary in February 2025. Wright had been CEO of the fracking giant Liberty Energy, which partnered with Tamboran in 2023.
It wasn’t long before the actions of the UAE leaders made Riddle suspicious about who was behind the company and what their motives were.
Early on, Riddle said he and his team sought information on how Tech Wave spent tens of millions of dollars before he came on the project, including doing the surveys. “They were very hesitant to provide details around the cost or origin of the money that supported the company before I was hired,” Riddle said.
Riddle said Gundersen wanted to locate the LNG plant just off the coast near Prudhoe Bay, an area that includes the largest oil field in North America, the start of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and operations by companies that include Exxon, ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp. The site is near, too, to the Oliktok Long Range Radar Site. Such installations watch for inbound missiles and aircraft and play a critical role in national defense because satellites don’t have good visibility over the poles. Prudhoe Bay is a key location, as well, for communications infrastructure supporting the military and residents in northern Alaska, through a subsea fiber optic cable that originates there and stretches to Nome.
Riddle advised Tech Wave to consider a different site, near Wainwright, saying it would require less dredging and would not interfere with whaling by Alaska residents. He hired another team of surveyors for about $10 million to scope out that area, records and interviews show.
At the time, Riddle was becoming concerned that the operation was not truly the work of Abu Dhabi-based investors, but instead was controlled by Novatek, and its CEO, Mikhelson, who has close ties to Putin.
In meetings throughout the summer, Riddle and other Polar Train executives met with Novatek executives including Mikhelson, according to documents reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with Riddle. Tech Wave also employed several others who had worked for Novatek besides Gundersen, according to social media profiles and documents.
On Aug. 14, Polar Train formally requested permission from the Treasury to import parts into Russia to complete construction of the LNG processor, and then to allow Polar Train to buy the plant and bring it to Alaska.
Riddle said his efforts to secure U.S. backing for the project met resistance from his funders. “For months now, there has been no engagement on productively achieving substantial US shareholding,” he told Gundersen in a September letter.
Riddle and his team consulted lawyers on how to handle sanctions issues related to the project — including concerns from Treasury personnel that Gundersen “may be acting on behalf” of Novatek. In an Aug. 3 letter, the firm Baker Botts told Riddle those concerns “could result in heightened regulatory scrutiny of the Project even absent a direct sanctions prohibition.”
Records show Polar Train’s funding, on paper, came in the form of loans from Tech Wave and Gundersen.
In late August, however, Riddle asked Gundersen and Lehar for more funding for Polar Train. In response to his request, he said, an employee connected him via WhatsApp to Denis Solovyov — a deputy of Mikhelson’s at Novatek. Solovyov — who has been lobbying in Brussels and Washington against tougher sanctions on Russian energy — promised Riddle he would send money. Solovyov did not respond to a request for comment.
| Joel Riddle | Denis – in our meeting on Tuesday, you committed to facilitating the new funding by the end of this week. Can you please let me know the status? Thanks. | 9:03am |
| Denis Solovyov | The initial funds are already on their way; for stable financing, I need an approved budget and a weekly payment schedule. | 10:40 am |
Messages show Solovyov and Riddle discussed unpaid bills, payroll, budgets and loan proceeds sent to Polar Train, which were routed through as many as three other companies, records show.
| Joel Riddle | Denis – I have now received confirmation that all information requested by Rashid and Catherine has been provided. It is critical that the new funding agreed is wired on the morning of Aug 27th. If funding is not received, Polar will not be able to make payroll for its employees and pay critical bills, which will negatively impact the reputation of the company. | 1:07am |
| Denis Solovyov | Joel, Katerina confirmed to me that the funds should be in your account on the morning of August 27. We are doing everything we can. | 1:46am |
| Joel Riddle | Thanks Denis  | 1:47am |
| Denis Solovyov | How did your meeting in Alaska go? | 1:52am |
| Joel Riddle | Dinner just finished, Secretary Wright is very supportive. I also have a 1:1 planned with him tomorrow | 1:54am |
In the meantime, Riddle had dispatched boats to survey his preferred project site near Wainwright. But Tech Wave pushed to move the operation back to Prudhoe Bay, which it said would be quicker and cheaper. Lehar, Tech Wave’s CEO, sent Polar Train orders Aug. 20 to tell contractors to “cease and suspend works and services related to the Wainwright site.”
That day, Tech Wave also asserted its control over Polar Train’s spending, directing Riddle to follow a budget it provided. The plan allocated $13 million for summer field surveys near Prudhoe Bay that included studies of the seabed, weather and oceanographic conditions, records show. The UAE company also barred Riddle from obtaining any financing for Polar Train without Tech Wave’s approval.
Tensions between the American executives and their backers in UAE and Russia culminated in a meeting in a lavish private suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Abu Dhabi between Riddle and Mikhelson on Aug. 31. Riddle said he tried again to convince Mikhelson and Tech Wave that Wainwright was the only location that made sense for the project. Mikhelson told Riddle that a Prudhoe Bay area site was non-negotiable. Riddle told him he’d consider their position and do what was in the best interest of the company.
In the days that followed, Riddle again became concerned about making payroll.
“Denis please confirm the new funding that was agreed last Monday will be transferred no later than Monday 7th,” Riddle wrote on Sept. 6 to Mikhelson’s deputy. In Solovyov’s next message to Riddle in the chat the following day, he wrote that “the first 5 million were supposed to arrive by today.”
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank on Sept. 7 wired $5 million from Tech Wave to a holding company called Polar Eagle, the U.S. parent company of Polar Train, records show. A Tech Wave employee messaged Riddle the next day saying that “PE is making a wire transfer to PT.”
Tech Wave’s funding came via a loan from a UAE financial services company, records say.
In statements, Tech Wave and Polar Train LNG said the company has been “funded exclusively by Tech Wave, through both personal investments by Mr. Gundersen and borrowed funds.”
| Joel Riddle | Denis – I just had calls with both EDF and State – this was to introduce the potential Murmansk trip in late Sept. I noticed from both of these calls there was a material uptick in anti-Russia sentiment. I’ll continue to push on the trip but wanted to just share this feedback – how should I respond? | 9:59am |
| Denis Solovyov | Joel, thanks for the information. How is this anti-Russian sentiment manifesting itself? Positive news should be coming our soon. Besides, the Graham Act is currently on hold. | 12:39pm |
The Graham Act, which was named for the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham and expanded the sanctions on Russia, was signed into law Sept. 18. Riddle resigned the next day, and several others followed.
“They wanted to have Russian technology controlling the resource and the North Slope,” Riddle said. “I just felt like that was not in the U.S. interest.”
In meetings with energy and state officials, Riddle said he told them what he’d learned about Novatek’s backing for the project. Energy officials said they would alert the FBI, Riddle said.
With Riddle gone, Polar Train tapped Talkington, who was formerly CEO of Goldman Sachs Bank Russia in Moscow and sits on the board of Rusal, one of the world’s largest aluminum producers. The Russian company was founded by oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who is under U.S. sanctions.
Lehar said in a statement that the company is “ready to work with the Trump administration” and the state of Alaska. He said the LNG project will, among other things, “deliver jobs, tax revenue, and more affordable, reliable energy for Alaskans.”
The status of Polar Train’s application to the Treasury Department is unclear. On its website, the company says, “LNG deliveries to the market are expected in 2030.” A Treasury spokesperson declined to comment on the status of the sanctions waiver, saying the department does not comment on “specific licenses or applications, including on the existence or lack of any application.”
Arctic Spying
Russia is keenly aware of the power of information in the Arctic: In January, Russian authorities arrested an Arctic public health and environmental researcher whom they accused of treason, saying his work could help Norwegian intelligence. (He has denied the charges through a family member.)
The Trump administration’s stance on Russia is in flux. The president and his representatives have signaled that they hope to use business deals as a carrot to bring Putin to the negotiating table and end the war in Ukraine. In October, Trump signed a waiver exempting Russia from the new sanctions laid out in the Graham Act.
But other U.S. policymakers have been less sanguine. In June, U.S. Sens. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at stopping spy ships from countries like China and Russia from conducting research and espionage operations in U.S. waters.
“This legislation shuts the door to foreign adversaries attempting to commit espionage and exercise influence at our doorstep in the Arctic,” Lee said then, “affirming the sole right of the American people to determine who may approach their shores, from the Aleutians to the Beaufort Sea.”
The Senate has not acted on the bill.
The post A Natural Gas Project Off Alaska’s Coast May Be a Russian Ploy for Intel on the Arctic appeared first on ProPublica.
This content originally appeared on ProPublica and was authored by Heather Vogell.