Arctic Sea : to find out what really happened

Russian law enforcement authorities want the help of their Estonian counterparts to interrogate security adviser and businessman Eerik-Niiles Kross again in Russia in connection with the hijacking of the cargo ship Arctic Sea in 2009. “Russia has not submitted a new legal aid request, but different states have the same interests concerning Arctic Sea – to find out what really happened,” Chief State Prosecutor Norman Aas said. “I have given my testimony to the corresponding Estonian institutions more than a year ago. The Estonian Prosecutor’s Office then said that I have no connection to the hijacking of the Arctic Sea,” said Kross, who is Estonia’s former foreign intelligence coordinator, adding that he has heard of unofficial attempts to take him as a defendant in the case to Russia.

Arctic Sea: Patsy now a Lithuanian gets 3 years

Sergei gets penal colony
Eerik gets medal



Sergei Demchenko, Lithuanian national formerly called 'German-based businesman' by prosecutors, has been sentenced to three years in a penal colony by a Moscow court.

The 37-year-old struck a deal with the prosecution, fully admitted his guilt, and assisted in the investigation into the attack on the ‘Arctic Sea’ in the North Atlantic last year,
Latvian citizen Dmitry Savins confessed earlier this year, he was the second crew member to do so after Andrei Lunev pleaded guilty to hijacking and was sentenced to five years.

As part of a plea bargain Savins testified against the alleged mastermind behind the attack, Eerik-Niiles Kross, the former head of Estonia’s foreign intelligence service.
Latvian prosecutors said there was no evidence linking Kross to the Arctic Sea seizure. Eerik-Niiles Kross, who served as the director of Security Coordination Office in the Estonian State Chancellery, which is connected to the Ministry of Defense Information Service (Riigi Teabeamet), from 1995 to 2000.

In 2009, a deal was allegedly struck between Russian and Middle Eastern businessmen,to evade the' technical' delays of the S-300 missile delivery. Some sources claim the Russian military's weapons industry was implicated in the deal and transferred a number of new missiles to Kaliningrad. However the Kremlin was uninvolved, and apparently the deal was carried out in secret between businessmen from the private sector. After the deal was executed, an intelligence agency learned of the ship's departure with the weapons towards Algeria, a country located on a regularly used route for the transfer of weapons to Iran and Syria. The Arctic Sea docked in Kaliningrad in June to undergo various repairs.
On July 24,2009, the Arctic Sea, manned by a Russian crew and carrying a cargo of what was declared to consist solely of timber, was allegedly boarded by hijackers off the coast of Sweden. The story goes that the hijacking of the 'Arctic Sea' was ordered by the Moscow government.after discussions with other countries to prevent the delivery of the missiles to Iran. here more



"Allegedly they did not know the extent of the Estonia documents that Wikileaks acquired."

Eerik-Niiles Kross - a former high-level security analyst who advised the Georgian government - believes the Wikileaks revelations could endanger US relations with its allies. "Last time, Wikileaks revealed military information about Afghanistan, which in some sense was a direct threat to many lives. This time, they will reveal insider diplomatic information, which will not necessarily endager anybody, but it definitely threatens relations between the US and its allies," said Kross. "It's unfortunate that it happened because it endangers honest dialogue in the future within inner circles and with allies because everyone fears that it might somehow reach the newspapers."

Nevertheless, Kross believes the documents will reveal nothing scandalous about Estonia. "It is possible that there are judgements about the profile of some Estonian politician or diplomat, but those are only the personal matters of a few. There is nothing there that would harm bilateral relations." here

Arctic Sea: Russian Prosecutor gets hijack case

Eerik-Niiles Kross




Investigations into six suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea freighter have been completed and sent to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Investigative Committee said November 17. Earlier this month, the Investigative Committee sent the case of a suspected ninth member of the group, Sergei Demchenko, to court.

Maritime and military experts have claimed the ship was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles for Iran,

Demchenko, who went to school with Savins, is accused of helping train the hijackers in Estonia.

June 2010
In a plea bargain, Savins testified against the alleged mastermind behind the attack, Eerik-Niiles Kross, the former head of Estonia's foreign intelligence service.

Savins said Kross had acted in collusion with another organizer of the attack - Sergei Demchenko, a German-based businessman.

Kross denied the allegations.

"The allegations that I ordered the seizure of the Arctic Sea are at variance with the facts," he was quoted as saying by Estonian daily Eesti Paevaleht. "I believe that these fabrications are connected to my consultation services for Georgia on security matters. Georgia is not Russia's best friend."

Kross owns Trustcorp, a consultancy firm that has in the past few years been working with Georgian state agencies.

Latvian prosecutors said there was no evidence linking Kross to the Arctic Sea seizure. Eerik-Niiles Kross, who served as the director of Security Coordination Office in the Estonian State Chancellery, which is connected to the Ministry of Defense Information Service (Riigi Teabeamet), from 1995 to 2000.

Lisbon NATO Summit and Russia: Crown Jewels for Chicken Feed? November 16, 2010
By: Eerik-Niiles Kross read

Arctic Sea: 'German' patsy indicted

A criminal case has been referred to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation for approval of the indictment. Earlier, the Moscow City Court has convicted two members of the capture cargo ship "Arctic Sea": Savins sentenced to 7 years imprisonment, Lunev - 5 years imprisonment. Sergey Demchenko, accused of committing a crime under part 3. 227 УК РФ (пиратство). 227 of the Criminal Code (piracy). Demchenko was one of the participants in an organized criminal group, has a grip on the night of 24 to 25 July, 2009 vessel Arctic Sea with the Russian crew. During the criminal investigation Demchenko fully admitted his guilt in the crime, with a pre-trial agreement had been concluded.

But see Dmitrijs Savins, who gets 7 years for hijacking Russian cargo ship Arctic Sea said the hijacking was planned and organized by Estonia's former spy chief, Eerik-Niiles Kross, who was Savin's business partner.

Kross denied the accusation Friday. He told an Estonian newspaper that he was being smeared by Russian authorities for his links to the Georgian government. "I think this invention is linked to the fact that I was a security adviser to the Georgian government -- and Georgia is far from being Russia's best friend," he said.

Kross said he knew Savins, who he said had provided office space. "I know his face, as we sat in the same office," said Kross, who was the director of Estonian intelligence for 10 years, according to the Interfax news service.

Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Estonian parliament's committee for European affairs, called the accusation against Kross a "disinformation campaign" being waged by Russia against the Baltic country, which has had strained relations with Moscow since its independence from the Soviet Union.

Savins's testimony is unlikely to dampen speculation that the Arctic Sea affair was more than a case of ransoming the ship. The Russian government issued contradictory statements about the hijacking from the beginning and kept the affair top secret, even to the extent of ordering returning crew members not to speak about the events. The cargo was officially described as timber, but numerous theories have emerged that the ship could have been carrying weapons. Washington Post

According to the convict, 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. earlier