Arctic Sea: Not in a position to tell you anything

Each year recently, according to AIS [Automatic Identification System] records, the Arctic Sea appears to be missing from the logs in the Mediterranean for up to 20 days at a time. In April this year, the Arctic Sea is missing from AIS port-call records between April 1, when it transited the Gibraltar Straits, moving east, and April 11, when it returned through the straits, moving west. Reporting by John Helmer,
A similar gap in the log records appeared a year earlier, between February 13, 2008, when the Arctic Sea sailed east past Gibraltar into the Mediterranean, and 20 days later, on March 4, when it transited the Gibraltar Straits moving west.
In 2007, the gap in the logs appears between April 26, when the vessel entered the Mediterranean, and May 14, when it exited. In all cases, the vessel appears to have taken on cargo at Loviisa and Kotka (Finland), and Tallinn (Estonia).

In Helsinki, two of the registered owners of the Solchart group, Victor Matveyev and Vladimir Voronov, were also asked to say where the Arctic Sea was during the three "missing" periods identified by AIS. Voronov said: "I am not in a position to tell you anything", and referred calls to Matveyev. Asked twice to identify the ports of call in the three periods, Matveyev hung up the telephone without answering.