Death in the Baltic: The MI6 Connection

[chlamor]

Death in the Baltic: the MI6 connection
Stephen Davis
Monday 23rd May 2005

Nearly 900 people perished when the Estonia ferry sank in 1994. In this exclusive investigation, Stephen Davis reveals that the ship was carrying a secret cargo of military equipment smuggled from the Russians by the British.

<snip>

I was investigating another story - about international smuggling - when a contact suggested I look at Britain's role in the Estonia affair. This man, a retired MI6 officer whom I have known for many years, told me that the sinking of the Estonia was not an accident and that Britain and the Baltic nations had good reason to want the wreck buried. Estonia (the country) had been used, he said, as a transit point to get sensitive military technology out of Russia and on to ferries heading for the west. Its relaxed borders and proximity to Russian military bases made it ideal for the task.

<snip>

The most likely explanation is that British intelligence was behind the smuggling operation, working with the Swedes, and that a mine was placed by people acting for the Russian government in an attempt to stop them. The Russian mine was designed to prevent the Estonia from completing its journey, to damage it and force it back to port. The aim was to stop the specific shipment or the smuggling operation in general - or possibly just to issue a warning to western intelligence agencies. But the operation went wrong and the mine caused more damage than was intended, possibly because of the poor state of repair of the locks on the bow door. The ship sank and 852 people died.

<snip>

The British and Swedish governments were secretly using public transport to smuggle stolen Russian military equipment. Did the Russians find out about it and warn them to stop? We may never know, but it is clear that the western intelligence agencies were taking a risk by using the Estonia, in effect turning the passengers on the ferry into a form of human shield. The major signatories to the treaty - Britain, Russia and Sweden - still have every reason to want the truth about the disaster buried.

http://www.newstatesman.com/200505230019

[hector459]

1. OMG!! WTF?

Beam me up!!

[bennywhale]

2. MI6 are amongst the most ruthless and active of all intelligence

agencies on the planet. British secret service punch above their weight in terms of world power. Must be a contingency from the empire. Just ask David Shayler