Arctic Sea: Russia used criminals - wikileaks

In the cable's most revealing section José "Pepe" Grinda Gonzalez, Spain's national court prosecutor referred to the case of the Arctic Sea ship as an example of arms trafficking. Russia maintains pirates seized the vessel in July 2009 off the coast of Sweden, diverting it to Africa and the Cape Verde islands. It has consistently denied there were any weapons on board.

Although Gonzalez does not elaborate, his remarks suggest he believes the ship was used by organised criminals to smuggle arms under secret orders from Russia's intelligence agencies. There has been speculation the ship was carrying S-300 missiles destined for Iran. read

Arctic Sea: Russia's beefed up presence

Arctoc Sea in Cadiz anchorage


The recent easy escape and disappearance of Russian spy "Christopher R. Metsos" may draw more attention to Russia's beefed up presence of intelligence operatives throughout the Mediterranean. The DOJ complaint says that in 2004 Metsos "was surreptitiously handed money in New York by a Russian government official ... a purported diplomat associated with the Manhattan-based Russian Mission." Metsos purportedly buried a portion of the money (said to be $40,000), which was later dug up by Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills, whom the FBI named "the Seattle Conspirators.

Pirates As the senior Western officials who addressed the German Marshall Fund indicated, these efforts to suppress piracy are largely cosmetic. But there is no need for Western navies to do the dirty work. It’s cheaper to engage the locals, as the US army does regularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yes, there will be some collateral damage. more