Russia to deliver S-300 air defense missile system to Iran

Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 13 lifted a five-year ban on delivery to Iran of the S-300 air defense missile system. It would significantly bolster the Islamic republic's military capability by providing a strong deterrent against any air attack.

The White House said Secretary of State John Kerry had raised concerns over the move in a conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

[August 16 2012 Alaed: transits Suez Canal]

into Red Sea.

[Aug 11]traversing Mediterranean

Alaed, anchored,  with Padre Piolini near Malta

[August 8]

[August 4]

Alaed off Brest, France headed for De Kastri near Sakhalin and North Korea

[July 20]A Russian cargo ship carrying a batch of Mi-25 attack helicopters and air defense systems for Syria has offloaded the aircraft in the Russian port of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region, a security source said on Friday.

"The ship has unloaded," the source said. "These helicopters are now on the shore. A decision from Rosoboronexport on what to do with them is expected shortly."

The helicopters, which were originally overhauled at the 150th aircraft repair plant in Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad,

[June 26]"The ship Alaed when departing from Murmansk and through the whole way to Syrian port Tartus will be necessarily provided with escort to avoid provocations". 

"When sailing alone, the ship may get into an unpleasant situation which then could be justified by pirates or sea environment, so Alaed needs eyewitnesses and, if necessary, prompt assistance". 

The interviewee stressed that Alaed would be escorted not by a warship or supply vessel subordinated to Russian Navy "in order to avoid undesirable involvement of Russian Navy in this complex and ambiguous issue; the cargo ship will be accompanied with a civil vessel". 

[June 26]Russia’s main weapons producer has allegedly suspended its contract with Syria to supply S-300 long-range missile systems. Russia’s ‘Vedomosti’ daily published the report, citing unnamed sources within the military-industrial complex.
The very fact of the contract’s existence was not known until it was revealed in an annual report made only last week and published online by the makers of the S-300 systems, Almaz-Antey.
The report states that the company’s largest contracts are with Algeria (which is paying $39 million for a long-range missile defense system), and Syria, which signed a contract for the same system for $105 million.... However, the circumstances in 2010 were rather different. If Russia had fulfilled its contractual obligations back then, it would have been violating an international embargo. But no such embargo currently affects contracts between Russia and Syria.
 But President Vladimir Putin had previously said the arms that Russia delivers cannot be used in civil conflicts, and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, stated the supplies were merely defensive weapons sold in contracts signed long ago.
“We are sending no battleships to Syria. We have been saying publicly that we have been implementing contracts under which we have to supply arms to Syria. These armaments are entirely defensive and they mostly consist of air defense systems, which cannot be used against the population and can only be used to respond to outside aggression,” Lavrov told RT.

earlier

Alaed moored at Murmansk

 [June 25]A Russian ship carrying attack helicopters that was prevented from sailing to Syria has been refitted with a Russian flag, rousing suspicions it is preparing for a second attempt.   Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, admitted that the Alaed was carrying supplies for Syria. "The ship was carrying air defence systems, which can be used only for repelling foreign aggression and not against peaceful demonstrators, and it was carrying three repaired helicopters,"

[June 23]The Russian ship MV Alaed, carrying a cargo of overhauled Russian-made Mil Mi-25 helicopter gunships bound for Syria, will dock in the north Russian port of Murmansk on Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on June 21.

"While transiting the North Sea to the Atlantic, the ship-owner was informed that its third-party insurance cover had been withdrawn, and the classification agency in which the ship is located - although it is registered under a Curacao flag - demanded it go into a port for inspection. In order to avoid delay, it was decided to dock in Murmansk where it is expected on June 23, for re-registration under the Russian flag," he said.

June 19]In a statement given on June 20, Femco denied the allegations of illegality, insisting that it would never jeopardise its reputation for "reliability and business integrity".
"Reports about illegal actions of the MC Alaed's owner are inaccurate," read the statement. "The vessel is currently making a regular commercial voyage, in full accordance with international norms and rules."

[June 10]Washington, which has condemned Moscow for continuing to arm the Syrian regime, has asked British officials to help stop the Alaed though owned by Curacao-based company, but operated by a Russian company Femco, based in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin island, Russian Far East.  from delivering its alleged cargo by using sanctions legislation to force its London-based insurer to withdraw its cover.
Under the terms of the current European Union arms embargo against Syria, imposed in May last year, there is a ban on the "transfer or export" of arms and any related "brokering" services such as insurance

A Moscow-based defense analyst said the Alaed was carrying helicopters that were bought by Syria during the Soviet era and had been sent back to Russia for repair in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

“I am sure based on open source material that the ship is carrying 12-15 helicopters that were repaired in Kaliningrad and are on their way to Syria,” said Ruslan Aliyev, who works at defence think tank CAST, referring to an order of M-25 helicopters.

“They were old helicopters bought by (Assad’s late father and predecessor) Hafez al-Assad, I believe at the end of the 1980s.”

Vessel's Details
Ship Type: Cargo
Year Built: 2010
Length x Breadth: 130 m X 20 m
Gross Tonnage: 7579, DeadWeight: 9000 t
Speed recorded (Max / Average): 13 / 12.8 knots
Flag: Neth.Antilles [AN] 
Call Sign: PJOS
IMO: 9574999, MMSI: 306064000

ALAED Neth.Antilles PJOS 2012-06-09 08:22
AOLI 8 Belize V3NY7 2011-10-30 06:30

Vessel left S-Petersburg on June 8 and on June 10 called Baltiysk, a well-known military base on Baltic sea. Vessel left Baltiysk on June 11. m/v Alaed last and ongoing voyages are a mystery

[June 15]Moscow has sent a ship carrying a small contingent of combat forces to guard Russia’s deep-water port and military base at the Syrian city of Tartus, the US officials said.Russian special forces have arrived in the Syrian Mediterranean port city of Tartus, opposition sources told Al Arabiya on Monday. 

Israeli-based open source military intelligence website DEBKAfile has also reported that two Russian naval vessels have anchored at the Syrian port of Tartus.
A source close to Russia's arms exporting monopoly Rosoboronexport said Clinton's comments may have referred to helicopters sent to Russia in 2009 for repairs and which may be on the way back to Syria. 
The source said on Wednesday at least nine Mi-25 helicopters were sent to Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad to be repaired by Oboronservis, owned by the Defense Ministry. 

The US state department has acknowledged that Russian helicopters it claimed had been sent recently to the Syrian regime were, in fact, refurbished ones already owned by Damascus.

Secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, claimed on June 12 that "the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way fromRussia to Syria".

The state department admitted details had been omitted from Clinton's speech in which she accused Russia of escalating the violent situation in Syria. But spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: "Whether they are new or they are refurbished, the concern remains that they will be used for the exact same purpose that the current helicopters in Syria are being used, and that is to kill civilians.

"These are helicopters that have been out of the fight for some six months or longer. They are freshly refurbished. The question is simply what one expects them to be used for when one sees what the current fleet is doing. Every helicopter that is flying and working is attacking a new civilian location so the concern is when you add three more freshly refurbished helicopters to the fight, that is three more that can be used to kill civilians."

[June 12]we are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria, which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically.  A spokeswoman, however, made clear that Clinton's concerns pertained to helicopters now en route to Syria and not about the possible past sale of Russian-origin attack helicopters to Syria.

USS Donald Cook: sm-3 interceptor missile-equipped destroyer arrives at Rota Spain

PACIFIC OCEAN (Feb. 13, 2013) A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1A interceptor is launched from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) during a Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy test in the Pacific Ocean. The SM-3 Block 1A successfully intercepted a target missile that had been launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii.

The USS Donald Cook, which arrived at Rota Naval Station, Spain on 11 February, is the first of four ballistic missile defence (BMD)-capable destroyers that will be stationed at the base. The ships are capable of tracking and shooting down ballistic missiles in flight, using their Aegis radar system and SM-3 interceptor missiles. These capabilities will make the destroyers a key component of NATO’s missile defense shield for Europe.

[March 19 2011]


112 Tomahawk cruise missile were fired from five U.S. ships — the guided-missile destroyers USS Stout and USS Barry, and three submarines, USS Providence, USS Scranton and USS Florida.
USS Florida (SSGN-728), an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, was the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 27th state. She was converted to a cruise missile submarine, and re-designated SSGN-728.
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and back
and and

Florida: boomer sub arrived in Med before March 3

USS Florida arrives to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay Crete for a routine port visit. Photo taken March 3, 2011.
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Scranton: submarine loads in Augusta Bay Sicily

In this image released by the US Navy Visual News Service March 19, 2011 shows US NAVY file photo taken March 6, 2011, in Augusta Bay, Sicily. The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Scranton (SSN 756) pulls into Augusta Bay, Sicily, to receive supplies and personnel. Scranton is supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility.
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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: Reverse flow to North Korea?

North Korea's No Dong ballistic missile has a tri-conic nose cone. That configuration is typically associated with Iran’s Shahab-3, causing analysts to say that technical information gleaned by Tehran in flight trials is being fed to Pyongyang. Such a move would suggest that Iran has made considerable progress in developing its indigenous missile-engineering ­expertise.The rapid rise is in Iranian ­lower-end rocket threats. The biggest worry stems from the fact that Iran is being equipped with inexpensive but effective guidance systems that have tightened targeting errors.

Moscow University: pirates walked the plank?

The pirates seized by a Russian warship off the coast of Somalia have been released because of ''imperfections'' in international law, the Defense Ministry said Friday, it was unclear how the seizure of the tanker might be legally different from last year's alleged hijacking of the Russian-crewed freighter Arctic Sea. That vessel allegedly was seized by pirates in the Baltic Sea off Sweden and went missing for several days before a Russian warship tracked it down off West Africa. The eight alleged pirates were flown to Moscow to face eventual trial. . The Arctic Sea, was suspected last year of transporting Russian missiles destined for Iran. Moscow has said it plans to fulfill a contract to supply the S-300 AA missile to Iran.
The release claim has sparked skepticism -- and even suspicion the pirates might have been murdered. ''If the pirates really were let go, it should have been done in the presence of journalists. If the pirates were killed, a heroic version would have to be thought up,'' Mikhail Voitenko said.



Authorities initially said the pirates would be brought to Russia to face criminal charges for hijacking a Russian oil tanker. But Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alexei Kuznetsov told The Associated Press on Friday that the pirates had been released.

Kuznetsov declined to elaborate on the purported legal flaws that prompted the release and


Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the Russian online Marine Bulletin, said the release strained credulity and instead sparked suspicion the pirates had all been killed

''There is no more stupid version than the one that has been proposed to us -- that there was no sense in dealing with the pirates and that in Russia there are no suitable laws for convicting them,'' he wrote.


The pirates boarded the tanker Moscow University on Wednesday. They were arrested Thursday after special forces from a Russian warship stormed the tanker. A gunbattle ensued in which one pirate was killed; 10 others were arrested.

The warship opened with warning fire from large-caliber machine guns and a 30mm artillery complex, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Arctic Sea: Caronte (Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône, France,

Arctic Sea: return of the phantom Captain

A handwritten letter allegedly penned by Igor Borisov an unemployed roofer before the "Arctic Sea" incident reiterates the "hijacker's" testimony, and appeals to the international community to take seriously their concerns.
The alleged pirates claim they were hired to conduct temporary environmental work. The men are awaiting trial in a Moscow jail, facing more than 20 years in prison on charges of kidnapping and piracy.

Many assume the Arctic sea was carrying AA missiles sold to Iran but being delivered without authority by truant Russian military and criminals. It was said in the West that the vessel disappeared. The Kremlin was warned to stop its shipment or others would step in. The prisoners say they were set up, part of a cover meant to save the Kremlin embarrassment. A Russian frigate "rescued" the vessel from these"hijackers."

The Arctic Sea was unloading Finnish timber at the port of Bejaia on January 25 and will be sailing again from Finland in February. The Arctic Sea will take to the seas , the Russian Seafarers' Union said.
"The Arctic Sea cargo vessel's captain will return to the vessel and in February he will set sail again," the statement said, adding that most of the crew who were on board the ship when it was seized would be joining him.

Arctic Sea docks in Kotka, NBI to examine vessel

The notorious cargo ship Arctic Sea docked in the port of Kotka 30 Dec 09. The National Bureau of Investigation is to examine the vessel, which it considers a crime scene.

The Arctic Sea, a Finish-owned Maltese-registered freight vessel, which was the centre of a bizarre hijack drama earlier this year, arrived in the Mussalo harbour with a load of 4,200 tonnes of lime from the south of France.

According to Sergei Kurashin, the operator of the Finnish Solchart Management shipping line, the ship will continue to be unloaded until Jan.4.
After that, the Arctic Sea will complete the circle, returning to the port of Pietarsaari, where it will pick up a load of sawn timber, which it is to take to Algeria.
It was on such a voyage in July that the ship was commandeered by a group of eight armed men in a rubber boat off the Swedish coast. The hijackers held the ship for nearly a month, until they were overpowered by the Russian navy off Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa.

While it is docked in Finland, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) plan to examine the vessel, says Rabbe von Hertzen, who has headed the NBI’s investigation in the matter
The ship has already been examined by Russian, Maltese, and Algerian officials, none of whom found traces of any suspicious material or high radiation levels.
Kai Naumanen, CEO of Rets Timber, which provided the cargo for the previous trip, and the new one, says that the hijackers never touched the cargo.
Solchart Management CEO Viktro Matvejev says that the only possible hiding place on the ship for rumoured contraband would have been the ballast tanks, which were full of water.

During the hijacking, the Arctic Sea had a different crew. The members are now back home in Archangel.
The crew said that the hijackers had kept them locked inside their cabins. They also constantly wore masks and gloves.
One of the sailors was put in a harness and forced to paint a new name on the hull, indicating that the ship was a North Korean vessel, the Jon Jin 2.
The crew members said that they had been beaten, and that the hijackers staged a mock execution.


But see: story


The twists and turns over the months: 1 2 3 4 5 6

In May, 2009, "Russia's customs service said Thursday it uncovered a ring of active and retired military officers suspected of involvement in stealing millions of dollars worth of missile components and smuggling them out of Russia.

The Federal Customs Service said it has detained a dozen suspects and confiscated about 22 tons of missile components intended for smuggling.

It said that the criminal ring had smuggled parts of S-75, S-125, S-200 and S-300 air defense missile systems.

The customs agency said that the ring included Russian military officers on active duty along with some retirees and citizens of Belarus and Ukraine. It said the suspects were believed to work with senior officers of the military's air defense forces stationed in Russia's northwest, but would not give any names.


The information available to YLE is that Russian, Swedish, Maltese and Finnish officials closely monitored the movements of the vessel when located and the Russian Navy implemented the rescue operation. YLE

One outstanding mystery is why, if the ship was hijacked on 24 July, none of the crew was able to get the word out before contact was lost a few days later. "The vessel had all the necessary modern means of communication and emergency alarms, and was located in waters where ordinary mobile telephones work," said Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the Russian maritime journal Sovfrakht. "To hijack the vessel so that no one makes a peep – can you imagine how that could be? I can't." Mr Voitenko is one of the few commentators who have provided a trickle of information about the ship. He and other Russian experts have aired suspicions that the 98-metre freighter was carrying an undeclared cargo and that high-level state interests were involved, but so far nobody has been able to provide details. Independent


Dmitri Bartenev , a rhib pilgrim picked up by the Arctic Sea on 24 July, said the eight pilgrims were testing out a navigation system before starting environmental work off the Estonian coast. There were four Estonians, two Latvians and two Russians. [On 28 July Solchart Finland reported the "boarding "- Russian Navy deployed 12 August] On 17 August, when the Russian naval frigate, the Ladny, came alongside. The Arctic Sea's crew had spotted the heavily armed vessel two days previously [15 August - press said found on the 14th ] and the crew broke out the vodka again. "We spent the last two nights on board getting drunk with the crew." [Bartenev had previous arrests for possessing amphetamines and drink driving.]

The level of detail given in this account is striking and it is likely to fuel suspicions that the eight were set up to try to save Russia the embarrassment of explaining what the Arctic Sea was really carrying. Guardian Telegraph

ARCTIC SEA arrived at KOTKA Finland, 30 December 2009 18:00. "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," Vladimir Voronov said in September, without disclosing the amount the vessel was insured for. "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: Approaching hijacking site again

Finnish investigators are due back from Russia where they went to interview the alleged hijackers of the Arctic Sea, a vessel thought to have been caught illegally transporting AA missiles to Iran on that voyage. Meanwhile, the vessel is again approaching the scene of that incident. Finnish investigators have been cooperating in the probe along with Malta and Sweden.

Arctic Sea: Christmas in English Channel

Turned AIS transponder off after leaving Setubal around 12/22/2009 6:27:54 AM (UTC)and back on again on entering English Channel around 12/25/2009 12:50:35 AM (UTC)

Arctic Sea: Romanova-Lebedeva reappears

A lawyer working on the case of the hijacked ship Arctic Sea has been found after going missing for several days. Yelena Romanova-Lebedeva's disappearance was reported to police after she was not seen nor heard from since leaving her Moscow office on December 9.

On December 13, Natalya Volkova, also a lawyer,said Romanova-Lebedeva had been away for professional reasons and had not been kidnapped."Yelena Romanova-Lebedeva is in Moscow. Her absence was connected to her professional activities," Volkova said.

The Arctic Sea last used its AIS transponder entering Setubal, Portugal.

Arctic Sea: Phantom vessel near Lisbon

Vessel turns on AIS transponder to enter Setubal, circles to pick up pilot? Turns off AIS transponder.

Arctic Sea: Pusan Bound?

Arctic Sea: Phantom Vessel Off Majorca

The Maltese-flagged vessel suspected by some of carrying AA Russian missiles destined for Iran, intercepted by the Russian Navy, and released, in time, and freshly painted, at Malta free of any trace of such cargo, is now off Palma , the major city and port on the island of Majorca.
While Russian reports stated The Arctic Sea cargo vessel is unloading its cargo of timber in the Algerian port of Bejaia under close scrutiny by the country's national security officials, such arrival and departure information has not been found in the usual web sites.
Also from Russian reports: Russian courts decide not to hand the case to investigators in Malta or Sweden.

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."

KG shipping funds and Iranian Arms Shipments

An increasing number of KG shipping funds, which are popular among German professionals such as doctors, dentists and lawyers seeking tax breaks, are thought to be close to collapse as funding dries up. Peter Döhle Schiffahrts KG lists the containership Francop as part of its box fleet. The depth of the crisis was highlighted by confirmation that Peter Döhle Schiffahrts, one of the world's largest charter shipowners, has applied for loans from a government fund set up to help companies survive the global economic downturn. German container shipowners, who control a third of the world box ship fleet, are facing increasing financial difficulties and the threat of bankruptcy as charter rates test fresh lows with the end of the peak shipping season. An Israeli special forces squadron captured the Francop flying the Antiguan flag near Cyprus, containers with hundreds of tons of rockets, missiles and ammunition destined for the Hizbullah were captured.

Francop: Antiguan-flag Boxship enters Ashdod