Israel Matzav

Russia caught smuggling nukes?

This may not have been Captain Ed's most popular post yesterday (only 57 comments), but it might have been his most important one. Russia's opposition parties have accused the Russian government of using piracy operations as cover to smuggle nuclear weapons' components to Russian allies... like Syria.

The official version of events was questioned by Yulia Latynina, a leading Russian opposition journalist and commentator.

“The Arctic Sea was carrying something, not timber and not from Finland, that necessitated some major work on the ship,” she wrote in the Moscow Times newspaper on Wednesday.

During two weeks of repair works in the Russian port of Kaliningrad just before the voyage, the ship’s bulkhead was dismantled so something very large could be loaded, she wrote.

“To put it plainly: The Arctic Sea was carrying some sort of anti-aircraft or nuclear contraption intended for a nice, peaceful country like Syria, and they were caught with it,” she said.

And Captain Ed nails it:

I don’t believe that Russia would have to hide air-defense systems sales to Syria. As far as I’m aware, Syria does not have sanctions on it that would block such sales. However, Russia belongs to the IAEA and is forbidden from selling nuclear-use material to Syria or any other non-nuclear country. Such sales would require a large amount of subterfuge — assuming that’s what this is.

If so, why did the Arctic Sea get stopped from making its delivery? Latynina says that the Russians got “caught” red-handed. Did the US or another naval power intercept the Arctic Sea? Or did the US or the UK get wind of the shipment and threaten to expose it, necessitating a staged act of piracy to cover for its retreat?

Hmmm. Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:39 AM