Russian tanker to offload oil; officials cast doubt on tests WIRE:02/07/2000 15:47:00 ET MUSCAT, Oman (AP) A Russian tanker that allegedly was smuggling Iraqi oil in violation of U.N. sanctions was waiting Monday to offload its cargo in Oman despite strong objections from Moscow to its seizure by a U.S. cruiser. The tanker, Volga-Neft-147, remained anchored less than a mile from Oman's Qaboos port. Alexander Nazarov, a diplomat at the Russian Embassy in Muscat, said it will begin offloading Tuesday. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the cargo would be put in storage in Oman. The tanker was seized last Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman off the United Arab Emirates on suspicion it was carrying Iraqi oil. The cruiser USS Monterey stopped and boarded the tanker after it failed to respond to routine queries. U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said Sunday that tests confirmed the tanker was carrying Iraqi crude, in violation of U.N. sanctions which bar Baghdad from unilateral oil sales. Iraq is only allowed to sell oil under U.N. financial controls, with proceeds going to fund humanitarian programs and Persian Gulf War reparations. The tanker, which is carrying 4,000 tons of oil, was handed over to Oman on Monday by the U.S. Navy. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly denied that the Volga-Neft-147 was carrying Iraqi crude, saying it was actually carrying fuel oil from Iran to ports in the United Arab Emirates. It said Russia will carry out its own investigation, and its U.N. ambassador called for independent tests to determine the oil's source. "There is no confidence in the accuracy of the analysis results" because the tests were conducted in the absence of Russian experts, said Stanislav Bulgakov, the shipping director of the Transpetro-Volga company, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Vladimir Kuzin, director of Transpetro-Volga, said the ship had been chartered by a British firm, which should ultimately be responsible for the cargo's source, ITAR-Tass reported. "The owner of the cargo provided the necessary documents ... and the documents stated that the origin of the cargo as Iranian, not Iraqi," he said. The Navy said a gas analysis confirmed the oil's origin. It also said the ship's first officer is an Iraqi national and that documents found in his state room backed up the analysis data. "Additionally, the ship's navigation computer and handwritten navigational chart markings established a clear transit from Iraq through Iranian territorial waters to the United Arab Emirates," the Navy said. In Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Sredin told the ITAR-Tass news agency that the ship was ready to unload and that the U.S. Navy personnel _ including at least two U.S. Navy SEALs seen on board with face masks and machine guns _ have left the vessel. Under rules of the embargo, the ship and its cargo may be sold by the host nation. But Russian U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said Monday that the United States, Oman and Russia have agreed that the tanker and its crew will be released. Lavrov said Moscow wants to know why the U.S. Navy held the Russian crew incommunicado. "We have many questions on this entire episode," he said. Iraq is banned from most international commerce but is allowed to export oil to buy food, medicine and other essentials for its people and spare parts for its oil industry. The Clinton administration has insisted on full Iraqi compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions, including a requirement that Iraq not possess weapons of mass destruction, before the embargo is lifted. Russia has long supported steps that would lead to lifting the embargo.

Copyright )2000 ABC News Internet Ventures.

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 07, 2000

Answers

"There is no confidence in the accuracy of the analysis results" because the tests were conducted in the absence of Russian experts, said Stanislav Bulgakov, the shipping director of the Transpetro-Volga company


The Russians deny everything, protest with "Strong Objections", send navy ships to the region. US navy has "stepped up" patrols in the region.

What's next?

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 07, 2000.

Still don't know the British firm's name that chartered the ship.

Still looking...

-- Possible Impact (posim@hotmail.com), February 07, 2000.

What is so troubling to me about this, is that the United States buys Oil from Iraq.What the hell is going on? We can buy Oil but the Russians can't.I do wish that our Government would stop trying to dictate policy to the World.

-- Dan Newsome (BOONSTAR1@webtv.net), February 07, 2000.

It seems as if the Russians (or whoever had chartered the vessel) got caught red-handed (no pun intended) and are trying to squirm out of the problem with bluster.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 07, 2000.

What a rustbucket!!!!

-- Squid (ItsDark@down.here), February 07, 2000.

Russia Today has this additional tidbit:

Cohen, returning to Washington from an international security conference in Munich, Germany, said the United States has added another warship to the international interdiction effort in the Gulf since the Volgoneft-147 tanker was seized and was intensifying monitoring of oil traffic.

http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=132313

-- mellowdog (mellowdogusa@hotmail.com), February 08, 2000.