An Israeli advisor on shipping said that a Russian-manned cargo ship that Russian authorities claimed were captured by pirates didn’t characterize a typical shipping piracy. In an interview Wednesday morning with Voice of Israel government radio, Chaim Stav said that the piracy of the Arctic Sea “was too professional.” In addition, he cites that the lack of a demand for ransom clearly indicates that the ship wasn’t captured by pirates, as Russian officials claim. However, he was cautious to implicate that Mossad agents intercepted the ship, as media reports claim.
TIME Magazine quoted a European Union expert on piracy issues and former commander of the Estonian armed forces who claims that the ship might actually have been intercepted by the Israeli navy. In an interview published Monday, Admiral Tarmo Kouts said that he rejected Russia’s official version that the ship’s cargo was merely holding lumber. “There is the idea that there were missiles aboard, and one can’t explain this situation in any other way. As a sailor with years of experience, I can tell you that the official versions are not realistic,” Kouts said, referring to last month’s interception of the Arctic Sea.