Russian Cargo Ship with Arms for Syria Found off Scotland

19.06.2012 British insurance company Standard Club annulled insurance of Russian shipping operator Femco, the owner of cargo ship Alaed suspected of arms deliveries to Syria.

"We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria. We have already informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage", Standard Club told CNN having noted that the insurance was blocked for all eight Femco's vessels.

The ship is currently anchored in North Scotland. According to the US sources, the ship heading for Syria from Kaliningrad carries combat helicopters and munitions meant for Syrian government. MV Alaed headed southwest and at 9 am June 18 was 40 miles away from Scottish port Thurso. Reportedly, the ship left Kaliningrad 10 days ago. Destination port was Vladivostok; the vessel was supposed to arrive there on July 24.

According to Vzglyad, Russian Navy Main HQ earlier declared that landing ships Nikolai Filchenkov and Caesar Kunikov would secure Russian naval maintenance base in Tartus, Syria if needed.

On Saturday June 16 ????, US intelligence named the warship heading for Syria. As for Americans, that was Nikolai Filchenkov, a large ship capable to carry up to 1,700 tons of cargo and 300 marines. US military cannot say so far how many servicemen are on board the ship.

One day before, the US military official said Russia had dispatched naval mariners to Syrian port Tartus to protect local military bases. As for him, Moscow sent a ship with small force to defend Russian base in Syrian port Tartus.

On May 26, the Russian vessel Professor Katsman moored at Tartus. TV channel Al Arabiya then reported the Russian ship had allegedly delivered armaments. However, chief researcher of Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences professor Anatoly Yegorin said that media reports about Russian weapons are aimed at taking public attention off force interference into Syria's internal affairs that is being currently prepared.

A top-ranking Russian military official said in Apr 2012 that Russian warships would be on permanent combat patrol in the Mediterranean Sea off Syrian coasts.

Meanwhile, last Friday Russian foreign ministry replied to America's accusations saying that Moscow was not delivering new helicopters but returning old ones after scheduled repairs.

The Pentagon affirmed on Thursday that the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton failed to ground her statements on facts when charging Russia of supporting Syria with helicopters to be allegedly applied against civilians.