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: controversial and biased coverage

Captain of the MV Arctic Sea Sergei Zaretsky upon his arrival in Arkhangelsk airport November 2, 2009.
"I am happy to be back home," he told reporters. He criticized the media for controversial and biased coverage of the Arctic Sea incident, insisting that the ship carried a shipment of timber rather than an allegedly illegal cargo.

Earlier, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said the Arctic Sea's captain had falsely claimed it was a North Korean ship.
The ministry said that, when the ship was intercepted, its captain claimed it was the North Korean vessel Chendin-2, and was headed from Havana to Sierra Leone with a cargo of palm wood.

Arctic Sea: Union pleads for those onboard

The Solchart site carries a plea said to be from a trade union
Four crew members – Master, Chief Engineer, Second Engineer and Bosun remain on board. Trade Union and relatives do not have connection with the remaining seafarers, and we are very concerned about the future of our brothers. Last week in the programme “Man and right” family saw Master Zaretskiy. He looked ill and exhausted.

Arctic Sea: Who is in charge here?

Malta insists that the responsibility of the Arctic Sea ship rests with its owners and not with the flag country. It is not the owner of the ship and therefore cannot assume the full responsibility for it, including preparation of documents for the ship’s port call. It contacted the owners of the freighter and told them that the vessel cannot continue sailing until it undergoes the needed repairs, examination and certification. It should be certified that the Arctic Sea ship meets all the navigation requirements.
Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office spokesman, Vladimir Markin, described Malta's refusal to take part in the handover of the ship as "inconsistent and illogical," and said it ran counter to the international convention on the law of the sea. Spain's Foreign Ministry held intensive talks with Russian and Maltese ambassadors on Sep. 16 and on Sep. 17 morning. Spanish authorities gave permission for the Arctic Sea, the Ladny frigate, which freed the cargo vessel from hijackers, and a Russian tug boat to call at Las Palmas on Sep 15, but cancelled the decision on Sep. 16 without giving any explanation after Malta refused to take part in the handover of the ship, at the Spanish port.

The ship is registered in the Maltese port of Valletta.
The Arctic Sea is primarily owned by a Malta-based company, Arctic Sea Ltd. which is owned by Oy White Sea Ltd. According to the Finnish Trade Registry, Victor Matveev (Viktor Matvejev), a Russian citizen living in Finland holds 70 per cent of Oy White Sea Ltd’s shares. The rest are owned by two other Russian men living in Finland. The rest of the ship may well by owned by Solchart Askhangelsk Ltd of Finland, since it claims ownership of the ship in an article by Cristina Batog, a graduate of Georgetown University, specializing in Russia and Eastern Europe quoting director and assistant director Nikolai Karpenkov and Ivan Boiko in Askhangelsk, Russia. Arctic Sea's captain is 50-year-old Sergei Zaretsky. He has remained in charge on the vessel with three others although the crew was repatriated to Russia and professionally interrogated. He is said to have claimed that the vessel was really North Korean and loaded with palm oil. His wife, Yelena Zaretskaya, at last report had not heard from him.