On July 22, the Arctic Sea set off on a trip from Jakobstad, Finland to Bejaia, Algeria carrying a load of timber. The Arctic Sea was stationed in Kaliningrad before picking up its load. On July 24, the Arctic Sea was ‘hijacked’ by Russian ‘pirates’. On July 30, the ship sailed through the English Channel where it disappears, bringing about an international search for the vessel. The ship was later discovered on August 17 about 300 miles off Cape Verde Islands by a Russian naval frigate. According to Russian investigators, eight ethnic Russian ‘pirates’ from Estonia and Latvia seized the Arctic Sea and ordered the crew to sail for Africa.
One of the captured ‘pirates’, Dmitry Bartenev, 41, gives a different perspective to the story. Bartenev and his seven friends were recruited by a mysterious businessman named “Vladimir”. The men relocated to Pärnu, Estonia on July 16 for an unnamed ecological organization. “Vladimir” gave them a rubber-hulled boat and told them to sail the Baltic Sea while filming ships that were dumping trash into the sea. They had previously seen the Arctic Sea boarded by men appearing to be Russian Special Forces. A wave damaged the boat and the men were rescued by the Arctic Sea, where they spent three weeks on board drinking liquor and relaxing. They had seen the Russian frigate days before they were arrested, and the crew of the Arctic Sea reacted by nervously offering more liquor to the eight men.
There is another theory suggesting that the eight men were recruited by Mossad, Israeli Intelligence, to apply pressure on the Arctic Sea believing that it was secretly carrying S-300 anti-aircraft interceptors. The interceptors are thought to have been loaded in Kaliningrad and headed for Iran. Iran currently has an unfulfilled contract with Russia for S-300s, which would deter any air strikes from Israel.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/24/arctic-sea-russia-pirates
Was the cargo ship Arctic Sea really hijacked by pirates?
No comments:
Post a Comment