US to attempt to stop Syria-bound 'flying tanks'

The US government has enlisted Britain's help in an attempt to stop a ship suspected to be carrying Russian attack helicopters and missiles to Syria, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

The MV Alaed, a Danish-operated cargo vessel, is thought to be sailing across the North Sea after allegedly picking up a consignment of munitions and MI25 helicopters, known as "flying tanks", from the Russian Baltic port of Kaliningrad.

Washington, which last week condemned Moscow for continuing to arm the Syrian regime, has asked British officials to help stop the Alaed delivering its alleged cargo by using sanctions legislation to force its London-based insurer to withdraw its cover.

Under the terms of the European Union arms embargo against Syria, imposed in May last year, there is a ban on the "transfer or export" of arms and any related brokering services such as insurance. Withdrawal of a ship's insurance cover would make it difficult for it to dock legally elsewhere and could force it to return the cargo to port.

The request to London from American officials follows the disclosure by Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, on Tuesday that Moscow was shipping a batch of attack helicopters to Syria.

Clinton dismissed Russian government claims that its weapons sales to Syria would not be used for internal repression, and warned that the shipment could escalate the conflict, which has claimed an estimated 10,000 lives, "quite dramatically". Yesterday (Saturday), the United Nations monitoring mission said it had suspended its work because of "intensifying" violence on either side, which was putting its unarmed observers at risk.

The helicopters to which Mrs Clinton referred are believed to be part of a 36-strong consignment ordered by the Syrian government at the end of the Soviet era, some of which were transferred back to Russia recently for maintenance. They are understood to have been serviced by the state-owned helicopter manufacturer, Mil, at its premises at Factory 150 in Kaliningrad.

While the Kremlin, which has so far vetoed calls for a UN arms embargo against Syria, insists that Mil is merely honouring the terms of a business contract, critics point out that such helicopters have helped spearhead President Bashar al-Assad's attempts to suppress the uprising against him. Last week it was reported that helicopters had repeatedly fired rockets at a hospital in a rebel enclave outside Aleppo in northern Syria.

Shipping records show that on Thursday, the most recent date for which data is available, the Alaed was off the north-west coast of Denmark, apparently heading south towards the English Channel. It is insured by Standard P&I Club, which is managed by Charles Taylor and Co Ltd of London, whose offshore syndicate director, Robert Dorey, confirmed last night that the firm was investigating the claims that the ship was carrying arms.

"We were informed on Friday evening that the ship might be carrying weapons, in particular attack helicopters, missiles and non-specific munitions, and we are making inquiries to establish what their side of the story is," he said. "There are exclusion clauses in our cover, and for anyone involved in improper or unlawful trade, we can cancel cover. We are investigating whether or not to do so in this case."

Like most international cargo ships, the Alaed has a complex ownership and management structure. Its registered owner is Volcano Shipping in the island of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles, but it is listed as part of a fleet belonging to a Russian company, FEMCO.

According to FEMCO's website, the ship's commercial management and chartering is carried out by United Nordic Shipping, a company based in Copenhagen, but yesterday the Danish firm said the management agreement had never been finalised and that FEMCO's website was wrong.

"To the best of our knowledge the vessel is managed and operated by FEMCO in Russia," said Soeren Andersen, United Nordic Shipping's managing director. "We have no knowledge of or involvement in the vessel's current charter or trading, a fact we have also satisfactorily accounted for to the Danish authorities."

A source close to United Nordic added: "The Danish authorities contacted us a few days ago to ask about the ship, and said it was related to possible shipments of weapons to Syria."

The claims about the Alaed's cargo will add to the growing dispute over Russian involvement in supplying arms to Syria, which Moscow has long seen as a strategic partner because of the Russian naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus.

Last week, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that the Professor Katsman, a ship belonging to a firm owned by a Russian billionaire, Vladimir Lisin, docked in Syria with a suspected weapons cache on May 26, one day after the massacre of more than 100 people in the Syrian village of Houla.

Dr Lisin, a steel magnate who is also vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee, is facing calls from British MPs to have his invitation to the London Games withdrawn. However, sources close the Games organisers have said that accredited Olympic representatives of foreign countries enjoy a "diplomatic immunity" that would be revoked only in the most serious of circumstances.

Yesterday, Dr Lisin said that the accusations against him were groundless and that an internal investigation he ordered at his transport firm, Universal Cargo Logistics (UCL), had found no evidence that the cargo was dangerous or violated international law.

"The evidence I was presented with indicates that according to the documentation the company was not transporting arms for either side of the Syrian conflict," Dr Lisin said. "To date, I have not received a single [piece of] evidence to the contrary. If at some point someone does bring such evidence to my attention, I shall be grateful and will take all the possible measures available to me."

UCL said that as part of its investigation it requested information on the Professor Katsman's cargo from the owner, another Russian company. The company told UCL that the containers the Professor Katsman delivered to Syria were "a general cargo of non-military purpose featuring electrical equipment and repair parts (rotor blades) in containers and wooden crates", Dr Lisin said.

Lisin is reported to be one of Russia's richest men and is well-connected to the political elite. Victor Olersky, a former board member of his shipping firm, North Western Shipping Company, is now a deputy transport minister, while Lisin himself has been photographed meeting both Vladimir Putin, the president, and Dmitry Medvedev, the prime minister.

Lisin also described calls to bar him from the Olympics as opportunistic "self promotion".

"I am against armed conflict in any region of the world, including Syria," he said. "Sadly, there are those who try to use the tragedy of the Syrian people for self-promotion.

"At the same time, I would like to ask those who consider themselves to be reasonable and responsible to refrain from groundless accusations that will do nothing more than aggravate the relations between people, businesses, and states.

"I have no doubt that the International Olympic Committee, the national Olympic committee of the United Kingdom, and the organising committee of the 2012 Olympics will preserve the traditions of the Olympic movement that has always been above political gambling."

Russia and the West are at further loggerheads over Moscow's plans to press ahead with a deal to supply Mr Assad's regime with state-of-the art attack jets.

In a move that US intelligence officials fear could plunge the Syrian conflict into even greater long-term bloodshed, the Kremlin is pushing on with a 2007 contract to provide two dozen Mig-29M2 fighter aircraft, estimated to be worth £250 million to the Russian defence industry.

While the aircraft may not be ready for delivery for many months, Washington fears that if the Assad regime is still intact it could use them to devastating effect against the opposition. They could also be used to hinder any Western plans for a no-fly zone, which some analysts believe may prove to be the only way to provide Syria's rebel movement with a safe haven.

"Delivery of the Migs will help prop Assad up and give him some credibility, which is not the message the US wants to see," said John Pike, a national security analyst in Washington. "The Migs would make it more difficult to enforce a no-fly zone and would increase the amount of time that the Syrian air force could survive, although possibly only by a matter of a few days."

Rafif Jouejati, a spokesman for the Free Syria Foundation, a US-based activist group, said: "Russian arms are flooding into Syria. If Assad gets these new and advanced Migs it will be terrible; a fearful thing."

She dismissed Russian claims that the aircraft were largely to provide strategic air defences against, Israel. "It is preposterous to argue that Assad needs them as a defence against Israel with everything else that is happening right now."

She also claimed that Dr Lisin ought to have ordered his shipping firms to be more pro-active in finding out what any ships heading to Syria contained. "When your ship is taking a cargo to Syria - a country embroiled in civil war - it is your duty to know what that cargo contains. You can't hide behind a lack of knowledge when little children are being slaughtered."

The Kremlin has dismissed Western criticism of its arms policy to Syria as hypocritical, saying that other governments were also fuelling the conflict by arming anti-Assad guerrillas. The Daily Telegraph disclosed yesterday that representatives of the main rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, had held meetings with US government officials to discuss the delivery of shipments of heavy weapons, including missiles.

British MPs are calling for Rosoboronexport, the Kremlin-owned defence firm that has a monopoly on all Russian arms exports, to be banned from exhibiting at the trade section of next month's Farnborough International Air Show.

Last week, Rosoboronexport had a stall at the Eurosatory 2012 arms exhibition in Paris, where videos of Russian attack helicopters were on display. Igor Sevastyanov, the company's deputy chief executive, said: "No one can ever accuse Russia of violating the rules of armaments trade set by the international community. The contract [with Syria] was signed long ago and we supply armaments that are self-defence rather than attack weapons."

Last Monday Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, raised the issue of Rosoboronexport's attendance at Farnborough with William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, in Parliament. She said: "It is deeply alarming that while the Russian state-owned company Rosoboronexport continues to sell weapons to the Syrian government - despite appalling state-sponsored atrocities in the country - it will nevertheless be allowed to exhibit its wares on UK soil at Farnborough International Airshow.

"The Foreign Secretary has assured me in Parliament that he will look into the matter, but with the air show only a few weeks away, I would urge him to act now to prevent Rosoboronexport from entering altogether."

She added: "By taking measures to ban Rosoboronexport from Farnborough and revoke Mr Lisin's invitation to the Olympics, the United Kingdom can lead by example in showing that it is prepared to take a moral stand against all of those foreign companies involved in the sale of weapons to deadly and undemocratic regimes."

A Foreign Office spokesman said that Mr Hague was still considering the matter, but added: "Farnborough International Air Show is a commercial event run by Farnborough International Ltd. The British Government plays no part in deciding which companies are invited to the event."