Russia denies ship was carrying arms

MOSCOW – Russia yesterday denied reports that a cargo ship, which went missing in the Atlantic for almost a month, had been carrying…

MOSCOW – Russia yesterday denied reports that a cargo ship, which went missing in the Atlantic for almost a month, had been carrying a Russian air-defence system to Iran that was detected by Israel.

Russia’s foreign minister said the circumstances of the ship’s disappearance would become clear in due course. The Maltese-registered Arctic Sea was officially carrying timber from Finland to Algeria when it was boarded on July 24th by a group of eight men. They were charged with kidnapping and piracy after it was intercepted by Russian warships off Cape Verde. Since then there has been speculation that the ship, manned by a crew of Russians, Estonians and Latvians, was carrying a secret cargo.

Media reports over the weekend, citing military sources in Israel and Russia, said the Arctic Sea had been loaded with S-300 missiles at the naval port of Kaliningrad without the Kremlin’s knowledge. Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, had been monitoring the ship and tipped off Moscow. Speaking to reporters, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the reports: “This is absolutely not true.”

The truck-mounted missile, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It can fire at targets up to 150km (90 miles) away and can travel at more than 2km per second, according to Russian media. The advanced anti-aircraft system has been a sore point in relations between Moscow and the Jewish state, which has lobbied Russia to pull away from selling them to Iran, saying they could protect Iranian nuclear facilities against air strikes.

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Media reports claimed the Kremlin had ordered a rescue mission aboard the ship to avoid an international embarrassment surrounding a secret cargo.

“All will become transparent, and I hope that everyone will be convinced that the rumours you refer to are absolutely groundless,” Mr Lavrov said. – (Reuters)