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The National August 24, 2009

Israel intercepts missiles being shipped to Iran?

By Paul Woodward

The missing Russian cargo ship, the Arctic Sea, found off Cape Verde a week ago, is now claimed to have been carrying cruise missiles and anti-aircraft rockets destined for Iran, a Russian newspaper reported.

"The mystery surrounding the hijacking of a Russian freighter in July has taken a new twist with reports claiming the pirates were acting in league with the Israeli Mossad secret service in order to halt a shipment of modern weapon systems hidden on board and destined for Iran," Media Line reported.

"While Israeli and Russian officials dismissed the reports, accounts published in the Russian media sounded more like a spy thriller than a commercial hijacking.

" 'There is something fishy about this whole story, no doubt about it,' Israel's former Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told The Media Line. 'But I can't comment further on this.'

"The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported over the weekend that the vessel Arctic Sea had been carrying X-55 cruise missiles and S300 anti-aircraft rockets hidden in secret compartments among its cargo of timber and sawdust.

"The eight alleged hijackers originally claimed to be environmentalists when they boarded the ship in the Baltic Sea in Swedish waters on July 24. The Russian navy eventually tracked it down three weeks later an recaptured near the West African archipelago of Cape Verde on August 17, thousands of miles from its original destination of Algeria."

The Daily Telegraph said: "Officials have said the hijackers demanded a $1.5 million ransom and threatened to blow up the freighter if their demands were not met. But Russian and European maritime experts have cast doubt on the ransom reports, and speculation has grown that the freighter was carrying contraband cargo, possibly weapons or drugs. The speed with which the Russian navy apprehended the ship, and the trail of false information that was fed to the media, has fuelled theories that it might have been carrying an illicit cargo for the Kremlin - possibly an embargo-breaking shipment of arms or nuclear fuels to another country. Some believe that it may have been fitted with secret cavities during repairs made in the Russian port of Kaliningrad - a notorious Baltic smuggling enclave.

"What now seems increasingly likely, though, is that the truth will never come out. 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. And the explanations proffered by the alleged pirates have raised more questions than they answer. When quizzed on Russian state TV last week, Mr Lunev said he was working with an ecological group, who approached the Arctic Sea for help when their own inflatable ran out of petrol. But when asked what the group's name was, he answered: 'I don't know. It was some private organisation.'

"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."

The Kyiv Post reported: "The suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea vessel include two Russians, one Estonian, one Latvian, three stateless persons, and one man whose nationality is still unknown, the Moscow City Court has said."

Britain's Channel 4 News noted a number anomalies in the case, including the fact that the Arctic Sea having been recovered has not continued on its voyage to its original destination in Algeria where it would have delivered its cargo of lumber. Instead it is being towed to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, a strategic Russian naval base where authorities say it will be investigated further.

If a cargo of X-55 cruise missiles was in fact en route to Iran this would not be the first reported shipment. Earlier this decade, shipments of the same type of missile were sent from Ukraine to Iran and China.

In 2005, RFE/RL reported: "An ongoing investigation by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has revealed that in 2002, officials of the SBU, along with high-ranking members of the Ukrainian military and the state arms-sales company UkrSpetzExport, sold at least six cruise missiles each to Iran and China.

"Such sales, outlined in a letter sent to newly elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on 28 January by a member of the parliamentary committee investigating the case, would constitute a violation of international arms treaties to which Ukraine is a party. A copy of the letter was provided to RFE/RL by its author, parliament member Hryhoriy Omelchenko, a former officer of the SUB and past head of the parliament's committee on combating organized crime and corruption.

"The investigation has already led to criminal charges against a number of individuals, including a Russian citizen presently being held in prison in the Czech Republic awaiting extradition to Ukraine.

"Complementing the seriousness of the investigation's findings are claims that former President Leonid Kuchma was aware of the sales when they were carried out."

The website GlobalSecurity said: "While Israel has invested considerable effort in developing the Arrow anti-missile system for countering Iran's ballistic missiles, Israeli capbilities to counter low-flying cruise missiles are less well developed. The X-55 [also known as KH-55] cruise missile is much smaller than the Shehab 3, and consequently could be mounted on a much smaller launching truck, making it easier for the launcher garrison to evade detection.

"Unlike a ballistic missile, it is hard to detect a cruise missile when it is launched. The KH-55 flies at medium altitude for the first part of its flight. Cruise missiles can fly at low altitude and weave in between mountain ranges to minimise the risk of detection. They are much more difficult for SAMs and other air defences to track or attempt to engage."

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported: "Israeli President Shimon Peres said Wednesday that the Kremlin has promised to reconsider the planned delivery of powerful air defense missiles to Iran.

"Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made the pledge during their talks Tuesday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Peres said.

" 'President Medvedev gave a promise he will reconsider the sales of S-300s because it affects the delicate balance which exists in the Middle East,' Peres told reporters via video link from Sochi.

"A Russian official familiar with the talks confirmed that Peres raised the issue, 'but no specific contracts or obligations of Russian organizations concerning supplies to Iran of military equipment came under discussion on the presidential level,' the official said.

" 'While raising the issue, (Peres) underlined that Israel has no military plans against that country. In particular, he said Israel is not planning any strikes on the territory of Iran,' he said on condition of not being further identified because of the sensitivity of the matter."