Arctic Sea: It was Estonians, Germans and Israelis

An Estonian businessman contracted the hijacking of the merchant vessel “Arctic Sea”, a suspect has told a Moscow court. The pirate attack, which drew worldwide media attention in June 2009, was done for ransom.

The alleged organizer of the crime is Erik-Neiliss Kross – an Estonian businessman involved in oil trade and development – according to one of the arrested hijackers, Dmitry Savins.[Who has been a prisoner in Moscow since 2009]. more

Savins told a Moscow court that he helped Kross, his business partner and friend, to hire people for the attack and was the one in charge of the operation. Kross planned the hijacking for purely financial reasons. He needed money to cover debts he had accumulated as a result of the economic crisis, which had hurt his business greatly. Crew - also in custody -story more

According to the defendant, two other people had been involved in arranging the crime – Sergey Demchenko from Germany and Aleksey Kertsbur from Israel. The man didn’t provide any proof of his accusations.


Dmitry Savin, or Dmitri Savino Mālpils (Dmitrijs Savins on the passport), attributed the organization of the corporation owning the phantom vessel Arctic Sea to The Latvian Aquaship Ltd . Dmitris Savins, a resident of Latvia, was the chairman of a tanker company Pakri Tankers - a subsidiary of a larger Estonian company Alexela Logistics. Savin, apparently, is still one of the owners and other firms Juhtimise Partnerid, also associated with Alexela Logistics. Moreover, a couple of years ago the Savin firm rented office at the former coordinator of intelligence in Estonia Eerik-Niylesa Cross.

Arctic Sea: Victor gone to ground?

Viktor Matvejev
Hans Tanner

The Finnish criminal police could not obtain further information from Victor Matveyev, the sopposed beneficial owner of Arctic Sea via a Malta-based company, Arctic Sea Ltd, since he in December 2009 fled from Finland to Switzerland. The Maltese-flagged vessel with a 15-member Russian crew disappeared in the Atlantic on July 24 while carrying a $2-million shipment of timber from Finland to Algeria. It was eventually intercepted by the Russian Navy off West Africa on August 16. Eight alleged hijackers from Estonia, Latvia and Russia were arrested. Admiral Tarmo Kouts, the former head of the Estonian armed forces, the EU rapporteur on piracy suggested Russia was transporting guided missiles to Iran on the ship. As by a "weapons mafia" involving top Russian officials. The Russians seemed to treat Arctic Sea as a pirate ship, rather than a ship captured by pirates. Rather than being released, the crew was detained in Moscow for weeks."I think that if this journey had been successful, Russia could have ended up in a huge international scandal "I think that for this reason the order was given from the top to start this huge naval operation. We caught the boat to make sure we didn't end up in a nasty situation."



Viktor Matvejev may contact Hans Tanner of the Swiss ABC Maritime a sometime contractor for Aquaship Ltd, a Latvian shipowner organized in 1990 with the end of the Soviet era, a suggested financier of Victor. ABC also operates a fleet of river and sea tugs and barges working predominantly in the Caspian sea. ABC also has extensive operations in West Africa where Arctic Sea was found, such as this beauty.


Egon RusanovMeanwhile, Egon Rusanov, a lawyer for Dmitry Savins, has appealed again, seeking protection through Europe's human rights court for inhumane treatment after detainment in August 2009. Who he?

Arctic Sea: the Crew's story

Hey, what will we use for a North Korean Flag?
The Sunday Times gives a full account of the story now told by the crew. The Korean ploy is explained as follows:
"The crew said that when the Ladny first made radio contact with the Arctic Sea , Savin sought to fool its Russian navy officers by claiming the ship was North Korean - the hijackers had also painted over Solchart’s emblem on the deck."

===>>> One could wonder about the Russian statement at the time that "Both the name and an identification number painted on the Arctic Sea's stern belong to a North Korean bulk carrier that was docked in Angola at the time, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, but it offered no further explanation."

And the pictures provided show lettering that is more likely naval than work of the Latvian bravos that boarded the vessel, a paint job by the Frigate's artful sailors.

And a final nagging detail. Note how the IMO number on the stern is not square with the rest: can you imagine a spook saying to the seamen - "no, no, go back and use the right number."

Arctic Sea: Investigators and 11 Navy crew aboard

At the moment [26 October] there are four crew members on board The Arctic Sea with investigators and eleven sailors from the Russian Guided Missile warship "Ladny" - Krivak I Class Frigate. The vessel was flying the Maltese flag and had 15 Russian crew members on board when it departed from the Finnish port of Jacobstad on the 22nd of July.

Arctic Sea: Aquaship - the Riga connection

Aquaship, was still considered the owner of the Arctic Sea until late 2008, when Solchart acquired the freighter and four sister ships. Likewise, Aquaship listed these ships on its Web site as part of its own fleet until the end of July.


Aquaship ltd. 8b, Gunara Astras str., Riga, LV-1082, Latvia / Phone: +371 7035000 / E-mail: aquaship@ship.lv
"The origins of AQUASHIP Ltd. date back to early 1990 when the first independent marine companies were established involved in operation of all-type vessels on the post-soviet areas. Since then AQUASHIP has been constantly upgrading its services for purpose to meet the last customers requirements and orders."