Arctic Sea to be allowed to dock in Malta ‘on some conditions’
Charlot Zahra
The Maltese-registered cargo vessel “Arctic Sea” dry cargo ship might be permitted to visit a Maltese port “on some conditions”, a high-ranking source close to the Russian Navy staff has told Russian News agency Itar-Tass.
“Maltese authorities have recently set a number of new conditions, mostly technical and ecological, which must be met before the ship is allowed to visit the port,” the source was quoted as saying yesterday evening.
“It is quite realistic to fulfil these demands,” the source added.
According to Itar-Tass, once the formalities were settled, “a Russian warship would tow the ship to the Maltese port and pass it under control of the owners.
“The Arctic Sea, escorted by the Ladny patrol ship and a towboat, has been anchored several miles east of Gibraltar since late September. The captain and three crewmembers are still onboard, and the detectives are gone,” the source was quoted as saying.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and the Malta police and maritime authorities had “completed their investigative procedures” onboard the ship off-shore Las Palmas at the Canary Islands, Itar-Tass reported yesterday evening.
Plans were on hand for the ship to be transferred to the owner in Las Palmas “but Spanish authorities did not permit the Arctic Sea to visit the port,” the Russian news agency revealed.
The cargo carried by the Arctic Sea “had an Algerian buyer, and Russia offered to tow the ship to an Algerian port, where the ship could be handed over to the owner and the cargo to the buyer. Yet Algerian authorities refused to permit that,” Itar-Tass reported.
The Arctic Sea belonged to a company with the same name registered in Malta. Solchart Arkhangelsk had a contract with the owner for operation of the ship.
The “Arctic Sea”, operated by 15 Arkhangelsk sailors, was due to bring timber from Finland to Algeria on 4 August 2009. Contact with the ship was lost on 28 July 2009.
It appeared later that a high-speed inflatable boat carrying eight men approached the ship at 11.00 p.m. Moscow time on 24 July 2009. The men said their boat was out of order and embarked the Arctic Sea.
The crewmembers claimed that the men were wearing black clothes with the word ‘Policia’ imprinted on the backs. The assailants ordered the crew to head for Africa and to disconnect navigation equipment.
A Russian warship found the Arctic Sea offshore Cape Verde on 17 August 2009 and released the crew without opening fire.
The international inquiry of the Arctic Sea dry cargo ship situation would go on, a source at the Finnish Central Criminal Police has told Itar-Tass on 9 October 2009.
The international detective group included representatives of Finland, Sweden, Malta, Latvia and Estonia. The group and Russian representatives held a two-day meeting in Vantaa, Finland.
The meeting focused on information collected in parallel investigations. The sides agreed to step up cooperation and compared their progress.
The international inquiry was launched in July 2009. Finland was investigating the ransom demanded for the seized ship.
On 16 October 2009 the Moscow Basmanny District Court extended the arrest warrant of the Arctic Sea suspected assailants until 18 February 2010 next year by request of the Russian Prosecutor General Office’s Investigation Committee.
“The judge extended custody of Andrei Lunev and Vitaly Lepin for three months and 29 days, that is. until 18 February 2010,” Moscow City Court press secretary Anna Usachyova had told Itar-Tass.
A similar decision has been made for another six suspects “earlier”.
The Basmanny District Court had authorised the arrest of eight suspected assailants of the Arctic Sea, including two Russian citizens, one citizen of Estonia, one of Latvia and three “stateless persons”, on 21 August 2009.
Russian citizen Dmitry Bartenev, born in Tallinn in 1967, had told the court that it had no right to hear the case because the events took place in Swedish territorial waters and the ship had the Maltese flag.
Defence lawyer Konstantin Baranovsky pleaded that an international investigative team, which had been formed recently, should hold the inquiry. He also told the Court that the suspects’ file did not indicate their motive.
The suspected assailants had pleaded not guilty and described themselves as “environmentalists seeking assistance of the Arctic Sea crew”. They also claimed they were not armed.
“There was a gale and we were seeking refuge at the first vessel we saw,” Bartenev told the court.
Almost all of them, except for Borisov and Buleyev, were unemployed. Borisov is a builder from Profsomnet, and Buleyev is a steel fixer from K-Most.
One of the suspects, Andrei Lunev, told the court he did not mind being taken into custody.
The suspects were brought to the Moscow Lefortovo detention centre on 20 August 2009, and charged with abduction and sea piracy.
There was no mention of reports made in the British press a few months ago that the Arctic Sea was intercepted by Israeli agents on suspicion that the cargo was carrying nuclear material for Iran.
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