Arctic Sea journalist goes into hiding in Turkey

The story of the Arctic Sea, the cargo ship which was supposedly hijacked at the end of July and then mysteriously disappeared, has taken a sinister turn. Mikhail Voitenko, the Russian maritime journalist who first alerted the world to the ship’s disappearance and then claimed that it might be carrying a secret arms shipment from the Kremlin, has fled from Russia to Turkey, fearing for his safety.

The Arctic Sea, a Maltese-flagged vessel weighing 4,000 tonnes, set off from Finland on July 23 with a seemingly innocuous cargo of timber on board, valued at about £1m. Its intended destination was Bejaia, an Algerian port. When the alert was raised that the ship had disappeared after passing through the English Channel, it was assumed that the ship had been taken by pirates. An early report suggested all 15 Russian sailors aboard had been captured by men disguised as police.

But three weeks later the Arctic Sea turned up 300 miles off the west African coast and was recaptured by the Russian navy. Eight men, all of them ethnic Russians, face trial on counts of piracy. But both the Kremlin and the crew have refused to explain what happened.

Because it didn’t make sense to hijack a ship carrying a cargo of such low value, Voitenko, editor of Sovfracht, a leading online maritime journal, began to enquire further.

He alleged that the Arctic Sea had been carrying an arms shipment, possibly bound for Iran or Syria. He claimed it was never hijacked but was intercepted by Israeli forces. Neither the Israelis nor the Russians wanted the incident to get out, he believed, and the 'hijacking' was invented as a cover story.

Voitenko flew to Istanbul on Wednesday after receiving a call from a "a cold official voice" which he suggested was a Russian intelligence agent. He told AFP:  "I received a call Tuesday night. They said: 'Mikhail, we've all had enough of you.' They said: 'There are serious people who are behind this case and they are very upset.'"

Asked by the Daily Telegraph whether he intended to return to Russia from Istanbul, Voitenko replied witheringly: "Am I an idiot?" ·