Was the hijacking of the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea an operation by Israeli agents to intercept Russian missiles to the Middle East?
Pirates, missiles and spooks
Matthew Vella The Malta Maritime Authority has not yet joined Russian investigators looking into the mysterious disappearance of the Malta-flagged ship M/V Arctic Sea, as the inquiry into the alleged hijacking seems increasingly more set to remain in Russian hands as speculation grows over a possible Israeli operation to take over the ship.
The MMA has told MaltaToday its investigation team “will be joining Russian investigators to carry out appropriate investigations”, but would not furnish any further details. The authority is refraining from commenting on the new developments concerning the alleged boarding of the ship by Israeli agents, to stop the export of missiles to the Middle East.
Russian federal investigators are questioning the Arctic Sea’s 12 sailors and eight suspected hijackers inside the notorious Lefortovo prison run by the FSB, the successor to the Soviet secret service KGB.
Mystery still shrouds the alleged hijacking of the Arctic Sea on its way to take timber from Algeria from the Baltic Sea. But the truth behind this unprecedented case of piracy in European waters might now be linked to something more sinister.
Time Magazine last week ran with the theory that the Arctic Sea was intercepted by Israel as it carried a secret cargo of weapons to the Middle East. The European Union’s rapporteur on piracy, Admiral Tarmo Kouts, a former commander of the Estonian armed forces, has already stated “only a shipment of missiles could account for Russia’s bizarre behaviour throughout the month-long saga.”
Moscow’s official explanation has been pretty straightforward so far: the Malta-flagged Arctic Sea, manned by a Russian crew, set sail from Finland on 22 July, destined for Algeria with $2 million in timber. Allegedly, eight Russian hijackers boarded the ship on 24 July in the Baltic Sea under the guise of drugs police. With its tracking device disabled, the ship passed unnoticed through the English Channel and then disappeared into the Atlantic. On 12 August, the Russians sent out a search party. A week later, Russia declared that the ship and its crew had been rescued, but only after denying French navy reports that the ship had been anchored off Cape Verde.
But Kouts has disputed such an explanation: “There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can’t explain this situation in any other way. As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic.”
Kouts puts an Israeli interception of the cargo as the most likely explanation. Reacting to this theory was Dmitri Rogozin, Russian envoy to NATO, who said Kouts should stop “running his mouth”.
Unanswered questions Moscow’s explanation does little to explain why the Arctic Sea’s small consignment of timber was especially targeted, or else why Russia deployed destroyers and submarines to look for the vessel, and military-cargo plans to fly the 19-man crew back to Russia. Or why, after a five-day search, both the Russian foreign ministry and the Malta Maritime Authority claimed to have been fully aware of the Arctic Sea’s whereabouts the entire time. And why were three Russian Il-76 transport plans (each capable of carrying 44 tons of cargo) used to bring in the crew and suspected hijackers?
More interestingly, why had Israeli President Shimon Peres paid a surprise visit to Russia a day after the ship was rescued?
Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russian maritime journal Sovfrakht, rightly questioned how such a ship could have slipped away through such “heavily policed waters... You cannot just hide a ship there for weeks without government involvement.”
Voitenko has suggested that Kaliningrad, a hub for Russian smugglers, was the place where a secret cargo might have been hidden on the Arctic Sea during the two weeks it spent there for repairs.
Additionally, the company managing the ship, Solchart, was only informed of the attack on the M/V Arctic Sea three days later – when even an absence of 24 hours is enough to raise the alarm. And then, it was not until 12 August that Medvedev ordered the Russian navy to pull out all the stops to find it.
Yulia Latynina, a leading Russian opposition journalist and commentator, said the Arctic Sea was in Kaliningrad for two weeks so that the ship’s bulkhead could be dismantled and something very large could be loaded. “To put it plainly: the Arctic Sea was carrying some sort of anti-aircraft or nuclear contraption intended for a nice, peaceful country like Syria, and they were caught with it.”
In a surprising new twist – though perhaps not an uncommon one by Russian standards – this week Voitenko confirmed he had fled to Istanbul, claiming he was put under pressure over his statements on the hijacking. “Some serious guys… advised me to return in three or four months,” Voitekno was reported to have told the St Petersburg Times. Asked if it was because of his role in the Arctic Sea case, Voitenko said, “Yes, it was because of the Arctic Sea.”
Israel spars with Russia If such a cargo indeed consisted of missiles intended for the Middle East, the Israelis would have been the chief government to be interested in intercepting it. Israeli-Russian relations have been cool over the sale of MiG-31 fighter planes to Syria and its construction of a nuclear-power station in southwestern Iran.
On his visit to Russia, Peres discussed the sale of Russian weapons to countries hostile to Israel with president Dmitri Medvedev. An Israeli foreign ministry statement said that Peres had “stressed that Israel has concrete proof of Russian weapons being transferred to terrorist organizations by Iran and Syria, especially to Hamas and Hizballah.”
Journalist Yulia Latynina says a Mossad interception of the Arctic Sea would give Israel a bargaining chip with Russia over weapons sales, by allowing Russia to save face by taking its empty ship back home. And by the time Russia and Israel hammer out their differences, there might be little to do for the investigators at the Malta Maritime Authority.
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