Arctic Sea: real story? Government or underworld?

The Israeli security service, Mossad, which closely monitors arms supplies to Iran, is said to have tipped off the Russian government that the shipment had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld. Sources in Moscow suggested Mossad may have played a part in the alleged hijacking by setting up a criminal gang, who were unlikely to have known anything about a secret cargo. “The best way for the Israelis to block the cargo from reaching Iran would have been to create a lot of noise around the ship,” said a former army officer. Russian news agencies cited a top defense official 3/18/2009 as confirming that a contract to sell powerful air-defense missiles to Iran was signed two years ago, but saying no such weapons have yet been delivered. The state-run ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies and the independent Interfax 3/18/2009 quoted an unnamed top official in the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service as saying the contract was signed two years ago. Service spokesman Andrei Tarabrin told The Associated Press he could not immediately comment. here

— The Israeli president, Shimon Peres,that his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev, had promised to reconsider Russia’s plans to provide advanced surface-to-air missiles to Iran, a deal that Washington has also sought to halt. August 20

S-300 system became operational in 1978. Improvements to the S-300P have resulted in several major subversions for both the internal and the export market. United States has bought an S-300V system for evaluation here Timesonline

No. 9 Han Chang ends nuclear confrontation

North Korea told the United States July 14 that it had shut down its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and readmitted a permanent international inspection team, completing its first step toward reversing a four-year-long confrontation with the United States. Rice and Mr. Hill worked around Mr. Cheney to strike the deal, which awarded the North large shipments of oil as it took the first steps to end its nuclear production capacity.

The United States also cleared the way for the return of $25 million frozen in a Macao bank that the administration had said was largely North Korea’s ill-gotten gains from counterfeiting and arms sales. A South Korean ship, No. 9 Han Chang loaded with 6,200 tons of heavy fuel oil arrived at Sonbong, a port in northeastern North Korea, on July 14,

North Korean ship Ponghwasan departs Hong Kong

Song Min-soon
A North Korean ship, named Ponghwasan, left Nampo in North Korea and has been sailing southward after fueling up at an outer port of Hong Kong. The United States and Japan suspect it of carrying military equipment, Song Min-soon, the chief South Korean presidential secretary for security affairs, said. here