The journey of the Monchegorsk from Iran to Cyprus.
Πηγή: NATIONAL
July 13, 2011
Ammunitions that exploded this week in Cyprus could have arrived in Malta under US-Cyprus-UK proposal.
The high explosives that exploded at a naval base in Cyprus this week, killing 12 and injuring 62, were nearly destined for Malta under a proposal by the Cypriots to get rid of the explosives.
A Wikileaks cable reveals that the ammunition arrived in Nicosia in 2009 on the Monchegorsk, a ship that was caught breaking UN sanctions by illegally carrying arms from Iran to Syria. The cargo of high explosives was later offloaded in Limassol in February 2009 and stored in shipping containers – which exploded on Monday at the Evangelos Florakis base. The explosion caused another fire at Vassiliko electricity plant, one kilometre away from the base, collapsing its fuel tankers and cutting power supply to main parts of the island.
According to two US embassy cables, released just weeks ago by Wikileaks, US ambassador Frank Urbancic demanded that Cyprus – unhappy about having to detain the ship because of its proximity to Syria – does not allow the Monchegork to depart.
On its part, Cyprus wrote to the United Nations’ Iran Sanctions Committee to put the ship in the possession of the UN and asked the Russians to support its tack in New York.
“[Presidential diplomatic coordinator Leonidas] Pantelide called back at 1300hrs, a touch frazzled and with a completely different message. ‘We want to find a way through this mess,’ the Cypriot diplomat insisted… Now Cyprus wanted to explore a third-country transfer option.”
