Mossad Monitored Mystery Ship Arctic Sea
Russian newswires reported on Saturday no suspicious materials were found on the ship Arctic Sea despite media reports it was carrying an air-defense system for Iran.
According to Reuters, a spokesman for the Russian Prosecutor General’s Investigative Committee said prosecutors found nothing but timber on the ship.
“The ship was searched with the help of modern appliances, inside and outside. There was nothing but timber and lumber. Nothing that could compromise Russian Federation was found,” Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Suspicions however remain, with media reports that officials from Spain, Malta and Russia couldn’t agree on how and where to transfer the ship, while Spain denied it entry to its port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
British and Russian press reports, citing military sources in Israel and Russia, said the Arctic Sea had been loaded with Russian S-300 missiles at the naval port of Kaliningrad without the Kremlin’s knowledge.
Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, had been monitoring the shipment and tipped off Moscow, Reuters added.
Perhaps related to the incident was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Russia last week. Reuters indicated that his office declined to elaborate on the affair.
[...] plot thickened, however, with reports that Israel’s Mossad was keeping close watch on the ship’s [...]