Arctic Sea Iran arms link denied

Russia has denied media reports that a cargo ship which was apparently hijacked in July was carrying Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the reports that the ship had illegal arms on board were "absolutely untrue".

The Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea vessel with 15 Russian crew went missing for more than two weeks. It was found on 16 August off West Africa.

Eight men were later charged with hijacking and piracy over the case.

The men, mostly from Estonia, are suspected of seizing the ship and its crew after raiding it disguised as police.

'Serious people'

Speaking in Moscow, Mr Lavrov dismissed media speculation about S-300 missiles on board the Arctic Sea as "groundless".

Russia's top diplomat also promised a "transparent" investigation in which Maltese officials would also be invited to take part.

The 4,000-tonne vessel vanished in July days after leaving Finland with an apparent cargo of timber worth $1.8m (£1.1m), destined for the Algerian port of Bejaia.

Last week, Britain's Sunday Times quotes sources in Russia and Israel claiming that the Arctic Sea was carrying arms to Iran and not timber.

It said that the sources claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, Russia's most advanced anti-aircraft weapon, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad.

The arms were sold by former military officers linked to the underworld, the Sunday Times reported.

Also last week, a Russian journalist fled his country after suggesting that the ship might have been carrying illegal weapons.

Mikhail Voitenko, the editor of the Sovfracht online maritime journal, said he had been told to leave Moscow or face arrest.

Speaking to the BBC from Turkey, Mr Voitenko said he had received a threatening phone call from "serious people" whom he suggested may have been members of Russia's intelligence agency, the FSB.

The FSB has made no public comments on the allegations.

There has also been speculation the ship may have been intercepted by Mossad - Israel's foreign intelligence service - in order to prevent a shipment of illegal arms to the Middle East.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8243714.stm?ad=1

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I personally don't think that this story is true... Israel is good at fabricating news like this... but it would be interesting if it did actually happen. I know Russia is not its former self but for Israelis to be hijacking Russian ships in international waters and then threatening to go public if the Russians do not back out of the deal?

EVEN If its true i don't think that its due to the fact that Russia is 'weak'. I think that historically Zionists have repeatedly over played their cards. If this is true then i think the Russians will make the Zionists pay somehow for 'embarrassing' them.

It is false, all Russian missile shipments (and generally all Russian military related goods) to Iran come through the Caspian to Bandar-e Anzali, not the Atlantic......

Iran's S-300's are still sitting at Kapustin Yar storage.

so jews took the bait?

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Arctic Sea was carrying missiles to Iran, new report suggests


The saga of the missing Arctic Sea cargo ship took a fresh twist on Thursday after a Russian newspaper reported that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, made a secret visit to Moscow last Monday to discuss Russian arms shipments to Iran and Syria

Russia's Kommersant daily cited a senior Kremlin source. The revelation appeared to support maritime and military experts who have claimed the ship was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles for Iran, that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, found out, and that the Kremlin was given time and space to stop the delivery and cover it up in order to save face.

Russia's foreign minister has publicly and fiercely denied those allegations, pledging a full investigation into the affair, while Russian investigators say they have found nothing on board the ship except the official cargo of timber worth just over one million pounds.

The vessel went missing for almost three weeks in July and August and, according to the official Kremlin version of events, was the victim of what would be the first case of piracy in European waters in the modern era.

But the Kremlin's storyline has failed to convince a European piracy official, an outspoken Russian journalist, and a growing number of so far anonymous political, military and intelligence sources in both Russia and Israel.

Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu's whereabouts on Monday have become front page news in Israel, sparking an angry backlash against the premier. The Israeli press frantically tried to find out where he had spent the day after he disappeared from public view for up to 14 hours.

Mr Netanyahu's office initially claimed he was visiting a secret military installation inside Israel. But on Thursday it backtracked, saying in a statement that he was "busy with (some other) confidential and classified activity." It did not deny media reports that he had flown to Moscow.

The Russian foreign ministry also appeared to soften its position. Russian officials initially said that no such visit had taken place but on Thursday Andrei Nesterenko, a foreign ministry spokesman, chose his words more carefully.

"I am not saying yes or no," he told reporters. "I am just saying I don't have any information." Israeli President Shimon Peres held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the Black Sea resort of Sochi the day after the Arctic Sea was "rescued." The subject of those talks was also Russian arms shipments to the Middle East.

Israel opposes Russian arms deliveries to Iran on the grounds that such weapons would destabilise the Middle East and sharply increase Israeli casualties in the event of an Israeli air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

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Do any of the Russians have anything to add to this?