Posted on October 3, 2008 - by Venik

Pirates, Tanks and Conspiracy Theories

An Israeli-owned cargo ship, sailing under Belize flag with Russian and Ukrainian crew, carrying to Kenya Soviet-made main battle tanks for the army of Sudan is being boarded by Somalian pirates; the ship is surrounded by US Navy cruiser and destroyer, as well as by two Royal Navy frigates, as the Russian Navy dispatches its top-of-the-line frigate to rescue the captured ship and its deadly cargo, after being granted a permission by the government of Somalia to enter its territorial waters and even to attack the pirates on land, if necessary. If this story is not a perfect setup for a conspiracy theory, then I don’t know what is.

A few words about the parties involved. “Faina” (an ancient Greek name meaning “Shining”)  – IMO number 7419377 – is a 162-meter, 11,000-ton roll-on/roll-off ocean-going ferry built by Lodose Varv of Sweden in 1978. In the past the ship was sailing under the flags of Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Panama and was named “Vallmo”, “Matina”, “Loverval”, and “Marabou”. I don’t know what “Loverval” means, but I like the name.

Currently the vessel is owned by Vadim Alperin – a citizen of Israel – through Panama-based Waterlux AG and managed by TOMEX Team located in Odessa, Ukraine, and by Kaalbye Shipping registered in the British Virgin Isles. The ship is carrying 33 T-72s (Ukraine is in business with Israel upgrading old Soviet-made tanks), spare parts and ammunition, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, as well as an assortment of landmines, grenades and firearms. A cargo that would make any pirate happy. Ukraine sent this floating arsenal into dangerous waters without the usual in such situations naval escort.

Ukraine insists that the ship was going to Kenya and, according to Ukrainian government officials, neither the vessel nor its deadly cargo are currently property of Ukraine. The US Navy and the pirates say that the weapons aboard “Faina” are intended for Sudan. This conclusion was no great leap of logic: Kenya does not operate any Soviet-made tanks (it has 76 British-made Vickers Mk. 3) or any other Soviet-made armor and has no need for these T-72s. Ukraine disputes this accusation, while Kenya is largely keeping quiet, but says that it will not negotiate with the pirates. However, it would appear that not all Ukrainian government ministers got the memo: the country’s defense minister Yuri Yekhanurov a few days ago told journalists that the cargo is owned by Ukrainian Ukrinmash company – a subsidiary of the state-owned weapons export monopoly Ukrspetsexport. According to Ukrainian law, all armaments exports are handled exclusively by this agency and each deal requires a personal approval of the country’s president.

News photos show three small, rusty motor boats belonging to the pirates near “Faina”, which is now surrounded by enough naval firepower to take on a carrier battlegroup. There are an American Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and a Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided missile cruiser, as well as two British Type 23 frigates. Russia dispatched one of its newest Neustrashimy-class large frigates of the Baltic Fleet to Somalia and it should arrive in a few days. The frigate is armed with cruise missiles, anti-submarine rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles, 100-mm automatic gun, torpedoes, depth charges, and an ASW helicopter.

Russian Navy’s spokesman told reporters that “Neustrashimy” left its base just a day before the hijacking of “Faina” to participate in anti-piracy training with an unspecified country. For that purpose the frigate is carrying a special forces unit of the Russian Navy’s “Black Berets”. How remarkably convenient. None of the US or British naval vessels in the area have special forces aboard, which gives the Russians a tactical advantage in dealing with the pirates in this situation. The government of Somalia gave the Russian Navy exclusive permission to enter the country’s territorial waters and, if necessary, to pursue the pirates on land. Somalia also announced its intention to recognize independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. And so, as they say, the plot thickens.

This would not be the first time Russia sends its Naval Infantry to Somalia. During the Cold War the US and the Soviet Union viewed Somalia’s location at the mouth of the Red Sea as being of strategic importance. The Soviets beat the Americans to win Somalia’s “friendship” and several thousand Soviet military advisers and technical specialists were stationed with their families in Somalia. The country’s ruler – Major General Muhammad Siad Barre – came to power after the 1969 military coup and was initially pro-Soviet. In 1974 USSR and Somalia signed a cooperation treaty and USSR provided Somalia extensive aid during the severe drought that year.

In November of 1977, with the outbreak of the Ogaden War between Somalia and Ethiopia – both Soviet allies – the USSR was forced to choose sides and supported the more stable and important Ethiopia. Barre’s response was drastic: he tore up the 1974 treaty and ordered all Soviets to leave the country. To protect its citizens from government-incited violence, the USSR dispatched a task force of its Pacific Fleet, commanded by Rear Adm. Mikhail Khronopulo, to Somalia. Soviet Naval Infantry landed in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and Siad Barre was forced to scale down his anti-Soviet rhetoric.

Soviets left Somalia and so did the Soviet financial aid. In 1978 pro-Soviet officers of the Somalian army – with KGB’s support – launched a failed attempt to overthrow Barre. For the next ten years Somalia was starving and deteriorating despite the yearly $100 million infusion from the US, which couldn’t pass up an opportunity to capitalize on the Soviet diplomatic screwup. In 1989, with the Soviet Union falling apart, the US soon lost interest in Somalia and stopped providing aid. And so a ferry loaded with Soviet-made tanks from Ukraine is now being help by Somalian pirates, as Russian, US, and British navies are sending ships to “help”.

As any Ukrainian schoolboy will tell you, Ukraine – and, more specifically, its capital Kiev – are located at the center of the known universe. “The Globe of Ukraine” – a humorous name for the large glass dome on the Independence Square in Kiev – is a popular Russian joke used to describe Kiev’s overinflated opinion of its importance in international affairs. Nevertheless, Ukraine plays a key role in the “Faina” drama and not just because it sold some tanks to “Kenya”.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Julia Timoshenko recently came across some official documents confirming that Ukraine sold Georgia massive amounts of weapons, including advanced anti-aircraft missile launchers and radars. This was not a very big secret (although most Ukrainians did not know about this until the war between Georgia and Russia), what was a secret, however, is that Ukraine took these advanced SAM launchers – some of the most modern in Ukraine’s arsenal – off active duty with the country’s air defense force just to sell them for cheap to Georgia. This was done on a personal order from Ukraine’s President Victor Yushchenko and resulted in significant “white spots” in Ukraine’s integrated air defense network. Apparently, American military advisers were involved in finalizing Georgia’s weapons shopping list.

Julia Timoshenko gave the documents to the Parliament, setting off one of the biggest political scandals in Yushchenko’s notoriously scandalous career. Ukraine’s government plays no role in weapons export business – everything goes through the President – so the Parliament members found some details contained in these documents very interesting. This move by Timoshenko came just two weeks after Yushchenko accused her of treason for the contacts with Russia and launched an official investigation of his Prime Minister. Now Yushchenko finds himself on the receiving end of his own “treason” investigation – this one launched by the Parliament and carrying far more severe political consequences.

As this scandal was starting to gain momentum in Kiev, “Faina” was captured by the Somalian pirates; it’s deadly cargo exposed and its questionable destination unveiled. Timoshenko could not have hoped for a better turn of events in her war against the president. As the war in Georgia turned the world’s attention toward Ukraine, the latter’s political life – with some help from the Kremlin – quickly unraveled, raising a giant question mark over Yushchenko’s plan to please his neocon friends in Washington by dragging his unwilling country into NATO.

For Russia, events in Georgia and Ukraine seem to be landing in predetermined positions, like balls in pool table pockets. This inevitably gives rise to a great variety of conspiracy theories. It is hard to argue that certain aspects of this pirate story are exceptionally convenient for Russia. Starting prior to the “Faina” incident, we have Dick Cheney traveling to Ukraine to show “unity” between Washington and Kiev. Instead, Cheney ran face first into a deep internal rift in Ukraine’s government that developed just days after his planned visit was announced. He arrived in Kiev and had to meet separately with the President and the Prime Minister. This was not a show of unity.

As the West was crying about Russia’s rumored plans to invade Ukraine, the latter’s political system was entering a self-destruct mode, as the conflict between executive and legislative branches deepened. First, Ukrainians – most of whom, according to numerous polls, are interested in close relations with Russia – learned that their president was supplying advanced weapons to Georgia’s nutcase president. Then the people learned that Yushchenko was doing so by stripping his own country of its defensive potential. As Yushchenko and Timoshenko are slinging mud at each other, one Ukrainian politician is gaining in popularity – Victor Yanukovich, the leader of the pro-Russian Regions Party and the former presidential candidate, who lost the 2004 election by a narrow margin. Latest polls show Yanukovich moving into the top spot for the possible early presidential election. It doesn’t seem that Russia will need the tanks this time.

You can’t load 33 tanks and hundreds of tons of other weapons onto a ship in Ukraine without Russia knowing about it. Russia’s attempts to reassert itself as a major world power rely heavily on the Navy as a means of global power projection – perhaps not the most important power projection tool in Russia’s ICBM-centric strategic arsenal, but certainly the most visible. The world’s biggest nuclear-powered battlecruiser, like the one currently en-route to Venezuela, certainly looks far more impressive than the seven-axle MAZ-7917 truck with a giant cocoon on top, even if it contains the world’s most advanced nuclear ICBM.

After years of neglect the Russian Navy received unprecedented public attention in the past two months. Warships of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet were deployed in the war in Georgia. For the first time in history a Russian Navy vessel used an anti-ship missile against a live enemy target. Black Sea Fleet’s activities in the war also underscored tensions between predominantly Russia-oriented Sevastopol and Kiev, raising fears among Ukrainian nationalists of Crimean separatism and contributing to the internal political crisis in Ukraine, which is progressing much to Russia’s advantage.

Russia’s new “Yuri Dologoruki” nuclear submarine recently conducted a successfull launch of the Navy’s latest ICBM “Bulava-30″. Another Russian submarine – the “Ryazan” – just completed its 30-day training voyage under the Arctic, where Russia laid claim to large territory containing rich oil and natural gas deposits. The flagship of the Northern Fleet – nuclear cruiser “Peter the Great” – and “Admiral Chabanenko” destroyer, plus support vessels and more submarines, are currently on a PR trip to Mediterranean and later will proceed to South America for a few weeks of joint training exercises with the Bolivarian Armada of Venezuela.

And now a Russian frigate with a Spetsnaz unit of the Naval Infantry just happened to sail for an anti-piracy exercise a day before the capture of “Faina” by Somalian pirates. The ship was diverted to Somalia, which just happened to grant the Russians permission to pursue the pirates in its territorial waters and on land, as well as promised to recognize independence of Georgia’s former breakaway provinces. Coincidences happen, but what I usually watch out for is their high concentration in one place at one time. That’s usually a sign of something cooking.

Good things, they say, come in three. This situation with Ukrainian tanks and Somalian pirates plays to Russia’s advantage in three distinct but equally important ways. First, Ukraine’s attempts to supply weapons to Sudan are not good for its image in the West. Only two months ago the US and the EU were happily criticizing China for supplying weapons to Sudan. Logically, the same arguments now apply to Ukraine and this clearly is hurting Ukraine’s chances of joining NATO. Second, the incident with weapons for Sudan adds fuel to the raging political battle in Kiev between the president and the prime minister by providing Timoshenko with extra ammunition – hundreds of tons of it to be precise.

Finally, this whole situation falls neatly along the lines of Russia’s recent attempts at power projection by allowing its Navy to wave the flag in yet another part of the world, as well as to regain footing on a former Cold War battleground in Africa. All in all, this was not a bad week for the Kremlin and, therefore, the discussed events of this week were probably not entirely coincidental. Out of politeness and patriotism I will not spell out the exact theory currently spinning in my head. However, I think you can easily deduce it from everything I wrote so far. Something tells me that “Neustrashimy” will find the pirates to be in good mood and very cooperative.

Who would have thought that, through ingenuity of Russia’s intelligence and foreign services, the chain of events, carelessly set off by Saakashvili in early August, would so quickly stretch all the way to the shores of Africa. Georgia became smaller. Ukraine’s government grew a second head. For the first time in many years NATO retreated. European Union sat down to consider significance of certain pipelines and drew some painful conclusions. Astonished, the United States lost one of its favorite toys and discovered limits to its considerable powers. Hugo Chavez went for a ride in the world’s fastest strategic bomber. Somalia’s government found a new source of income. And in this day and age all of us got a great chance to talk about things like pirates and battlecruisers.

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