Posted on 08/26/2009 10:35:18 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Russia says it tracked hijacked Arctic Sea all along, but questions grow over cargo
Tony Halpin in Moscow
Russia’s top general hinted today that the ship allegedly hijacked by pirates earlier this month may have been carrying a secret cargo, as it emerged that the country’s Navy tracked the vessel throughout its journey.
President Medvedev sent the Russian Navy to find the Arctic Sea after it apparently disappeared while passing through the English Channel en route to Algeria from Finland. However, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow now says that Russian and international agencies had monitored the ship throughout its strange three-week voyage.
General Nikolai Makarov, the Russian Army’s top general, said that the military would search the vessel thoroughly after it had docked at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. “The motives behind the seizure are not wholly clear. We do not know what it is carrying,” he told reporters. “All we know is that it is carrying timber, but an investigation should determine whether it is carrying anything else.”
/snip
The saga also took a bizarre new twist when the ministry disclosed that the ship’s captain had tried to pass off the Arctic Sea as a North Korean vessel when it was intercepted by the Russian Navy. This is the first time that investigators have implicated the crew in the mystery.
The ministry said that the captain “unexpectedly claimed” to be in charge of a ship called the Chongdin 2 that was carrying timber from Cuba to Sierra Leone. Russian diplomats in Pyongyang checked with North Korean officials and were told that the Chongdin 2 was docked at a port in Angola at the time.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
I would certainly avoid sailing with them!!
“And the Russian government knows something fishy occurred...but what?”
Someone in the Russian govt knows exactly what happened. They however are having a hard time keeping a lid on as not everyone is in on it. Either that or they are incredibly inept. Perhaps a combination of both. Don't be surprised if the crew and the hijackers quietly disappear along with anyone else inconvenient to those pulling the strings.
You don’t send so many ships and subs to collect pirated lumber.
Not correct, the Russians had no clue abut the position of the vessel, they were informed by NATO.:
Military intelligence from NATO helped Russia track down the Arctic Sea freighter which went missing for some three weeks, Russia’s ambassador to NATO Dmitri Rogozin said. The help was made possible via new NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen after the two met in Brussels on August 11
Yevgeny Limarev, a former Russian security agent who is now a French-based consultant on Russian security affairs, said the Arctic Sea was likely at the center of a struggle between competing business and Kremlin clans in Moscow, and the Kremlin was forced to intervene to prevent an international scandal.
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/95600.php
The pirates didn't realize that the United States still has an ocean surveillance system, and NATO countries have substantial maritime surveillance capability. Apparently the Arctic Sea was found and tracked shortly after it was reported missing about a week ago. It took several days for a Russian warship to reach the scene, and make the arrests. Thus there was no publicity for the tracking effort until the Arctic Sea crew were safe.
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/articles/20090823.aspx
Crew members have told Russian news reporters that they have been told not to disclose “state secrets”, while well-informed Russian marine journalists have said they are now wary of commenting further on the case.
Even the suspects’ extensive tattoos - normally a reliable guide to identifying different sub-tribes of the Russian Mafia - have caused bafflement. “It is clear they are not our criminals, said Alexander Sidorov, the author of Russian Criminal Tattoos book, after examining TV footage.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/piracy/6074439/Pirate-in-Arctic-Sea-mystery-had-been-dead-for-three-years.html
I suspected as much. Any information on what are the goods in question? It is not about lumber, right?
Eyebrows were also raised after Russia brought back crew, suspects and investigators from Cape Verde aboard three huge Ilyushin-76 military transport planes when far smaller aircraft would have sufficed.
Russkies are hiding something.
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