Arctic Sea: Exciting expense account

Victor Matveev, CEO of the presumptive manager of the Arctic Sea, has posted an exciting expense account for this adventure.

Item: " Travelling costs and expenses of Mr. Nikolay Chemakin and Mr. Nikolay Karpenkov to Las Palmas, following request from representatives of the State Party, amounting to €3,672;"
...When the vessel was 'found,'
"Solchart Archangelsk director and shareholder Nikolai Karpenkov was making preparations in his office to send a new crew to the ship. However, he was still waiting for the go-ahead from the Russian Navy.

So why didn’t Karpenkov insist that the ship should have proceeded to the nearest port after the hijacking that took place in Swedish waters.
“The captain said that the ship was not damaged. We did not suspect that the hijackers were still on board.”

...When suspicions about the cargo arose:
"There couldn't have been hidden weapons on board by definition," says Nikolai Chemakin, the ship's technical superintendent, pointing to a picture hanging on the wall of the Arctic Sea loaded with timber. "Look, there is nowhere to hide such things."

Arctic Sea: It is all about Photographs

cargo offloaded to this tanker, Iman



Anton Surikov, a Russian security expert and former military intelligence officer, advances the theory that smugglers, with the backing of elements in Russia's security services, may have loaded ammunition and anti-tank missiles bound for Hizbollah in Lebanon, and four Kh-55 cruise missiles to be fitted to Sukhoi-24 bombers for Iran, on to the ship as it underwent repairs in Kaliningrad.

Mr Surikov says he believes that when the the ship was boarded in the dead of night on July 24 off Sweden, the attackers found the weapons cache, photographed it as evidence and left.

His scenario fits with initial reports conveyed by police in Sweden that the crew reported being attacked by about 10 men posing as Swedish policemen who searched the ship and departed in an inflatable dinghy. The photos were then shown, thinks Mr Surikov, to the UK and US security services - which arranged a second incursion as the Arctic Sea disappeared on August 1.


Nikolai Chemakin, the Arctic Sea's technical superintendent in Arkhangelsk has just returned from a trip to the Canary Islands, where Russian prosecutors investigating the ship refused to let him on board. "Something changed when he got there and we don't know why," says Captain Ivan Boyko, deputy head of Solchart Arkhangelsk, an offshoot of the Russian-controlled Finnish company that operates the Arctic Sea,. "I'm not God so I don't know what happened but I'm sure our men could not have been involved in shipping weapons." Solchart sent a Russian from Arkhangelsk to investigate the Russians from Arkhangelsk onboard.

Arctic Sea: a floating object?

Viktor Matveyev, Solchart Finland, the reputed manager of the Arctic Sea claims on its website that this statement comes from Las Palmas. Gran Canaria:

The free translation of the Port Captain decision.

1) vessel has Russian Military armed on board

2) Vessel is custody by the Russian Army units out of Spanish
territorial waters, its mean that vessel has been taken by this authority as
the Malta state does not recover their protection.

3) Due to the previous 2nd paragraph, the flag state control ( Malta) must foce the vessel to comply with the article 94 (bargain of unit nations) agreed in Montego Bay Dec. 10th 1.982. and specially in what respect to the security of the persons on board, navigation and see waters medium. Due to that and taking in consideration that vessel has not flag state and did not comply with other mentioned requisites, we do not consider to Artic Sea like a merchant vessel but like a floating object taken by the foreign naval army.

In view of that, the Port Captain does not authorize the navigation of
Arctic Sea in Spanish sea waters.

Sounds like Viktor Matveyev is preparing his defense against Finnish/Baltic Powers charges

Arctic Sea: 'Evidence' off-loaded to military tanker

The Russian Navy's Iman tanker will deliver material evidence from the Arctic Sea vessel to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in October, a high-ranking military official said on Sep. 21. "The arrival of the warship [Finnish built Aksay type tanker] in the port of Novorossiisk is scheduled for mid-October."

6617427 IMAN Tanker 4471 1966 Russia

DNo: 6617427 Year: 1966
Name: IMAN Launch Date: 3.6.66
Type: Tanker Date of completion:
Flag: RUS Keel:
Tons: 3359 Link: 1875
DWT: 4400 Yard No: 155
Length overall: 105.1 Ship Design:
LPP: 96.9 Country of build: FIN
Beam: 14.8 Builder: Rauma-Repola
Material of build: Location of yard: Rauma

Item: The 'company representative' from the management of Solchart in Finland that was denied access to the Arctic Sea off the Canaries, was Russian-based 'the shipping company’s representative from Solchart’s office in Arkhangelsk.'

Item: At last report, Solchart never filed an insurance claim. "At this point, there is, fortunately, no need to file an insurance claim because we still do not know where the ship and its crew are located," the official said without disclosing the amount the vessel was insured for.

Arctic Sea: nature of the cargo was the key

Las Palmas harbour master, under instruction from the Spanish government, rejected the request," of the Arctic Sea and its tug to dock. A Spanish diplomat admitted that the nature of the cargo was the key question in talks between Spain and Russia. "The ship's cargo is the most important aspect of the negotiations. It is not just about bureaucratic procedures involving the entrance of a ship into Spanish waters," the diplomat said.

Arctic Sea: Permission to dock slow in coming

A Spanish ministry spokesman denied that Madrid had refused a formal request from Russia to allow the ship to enter the Canary Islands port. "It is not the case that the request from Russian authorities has been rejected. However, no decision has been taken to authorise the Arctic Sea to enter Spanish waters," the spokesman said, as reported on Sep.17.