“It began as a curio item on an obscure maritime website and grew into the mystery of the summer,” The Guardian wrote on 24 September 2009 about the hijacking of the cargo ship Arctic Sea. Sixteen years later, Cypriot authorities arrested a Russian-Israeli businessman at Larnaca port on Saturday in connection with the incident, which remains one of the most enigmatic maritime cases of recent decades.
Alexei Kratzgur, 47, was detained as a passenger on a cruise ship travelling from Haifa when police discovered an outstanding Interpol red notice issued by Russia. The Larnaca District Court on Monday began extradition proceedings, with the next hearing scheduled for 14 November. Kratzgur will remain in custody until then.
His Israeli attorney, Nir Yaslovitzh, told ynetnews.com the Russian request was “highly belated” and questioned the timing. “Given the years of inaction by Russian authorities, this delay alone should weigh heavily in favor of his release under Cypriot law,” he said.
Russian authorities accuse Kratzgur of participating in planning and executing the hijacking of the Malta-flagged vessel. The cargo ship departed from Jakobstad port in Finland on 23 July 2009 carrying timber destined for Algeria. Armed men disguised as police officers attacked the vessel in the Baltic Sea on the evening of 24 July.
The attackers allegedly beat the 15 Russian crew members, bound them and locked them in cabins. The Russian navy recaptured the ship on 17 August 2009 near the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, nearly a month after the initial attack.
Eight suspects, primarily from Estonia and Latvia, were arrested and convicted in 2011 by a Russian court, receiving sentences of up to 12 years imprisonment. The defendants claimed they were shipwrecked sailors rather than pirates, whilst international media questioned the ship’s cargo and Russia’s insistence on the piracy narrative.
The incident started conspiracy theories suggesting the ship carried secret Russian weapons cargo and involved intelligence services, claims which Russian authorities denied. International media outlets commented after the 2011 convictions that questions about what actually happened remained unanswered.
Kratzgur owned an advertising company in Riga at the time and is alleged to have participated in planning the attack and recruiting personnel. Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that he arrived in Cyprus unaware of the outstanding international arrest warrant. The newspaper also stated that Kratzgur was previously arrested over the incident in 2009 and released on bail.
The case remained largely unknown in Cyprus until Kratzgur’s weekend arrest. Israeli media provided extensive coverage of the detention, noting that the suspect appeared to have been travelling without knowledge of the extradition request.
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