New Zealand journalist: Estonian intelligence knew MS Estonia was carrying weapons systems

Photo: Kaader Filmist «estonia – Leid, Mis Muudab Kõike»

Journalist Stephen Davis claims based on sources in the British intelligence that the ferry MS Estonia was used to transport weapons systems as a joint operation of the Estonian, Swedish and UK intelligence services. Russia, upon learning of the operation, issued repeated warnings against it through diplomatic sources but was ignored.

“I have talked at length with MI6 (officially the Secret Intelligence Service – ed.) about this. Several sources have told me that Russian military electronics was moved west in a joint operation of British, Swedish and Estonian secret services. There was a very close relationship between MI6 and the Estonian intelligence services at the time,” Davis told Postimees.

Source to remain anonymous

One of Davis’ sources is Richard Tomlinson who spent over four years working for MI6 in the 1990s and has fought his former employer in court and been embroiled in several scandals since then. Davis refuses to name his second source. “They would imprison that person if I told you their name,” he explained.

The Swedish defense forces admitted in 2004 that MS Estonia was used to transport electronics for the military but claimed it had nothing to do with weapons systems. Electronics was on board on September 14 and 20, while MS Estonia allegedly did not have a shipment for the Swedish military the night it sank.

“My source at MI6 told me about these smuggling operations six years before the Swedes admitted it. MS Estonia was used to move electronics that were tied to the ballistic missiles program from Russia to the west. The collapse of the Soviet Union caused a so-called open season during which former Soviet army secrets flowed to the west. The Brits, Swedes and Estonians got a piece of the action,” Davis said.

He believes it is possible that the Russians were told about the weapons smuggling by Herman Simm who was caught as a traitor a full decade later.

Two warnings

“The Russians could not just look on as their secrets flowed westward and delivered two warnings for these activities to be ceased. They sent a warning to the Estonian government through diplomatic channels in 1993 but it was ignored,” Davis said.

The journalist’s information suggests that the Russians delivered a new warning in 1994, a month before the sinking of MS Estonia, directly to the MI6 this time. “The Russians said don’t do it or else, without specifying what that meant. The warning was ignored once more. If you are using a passenger ferry with over 900 people on board, you can think of them as a guarantee or a human shield for that shipment,” Davis said.

He maintains that MS Estonia was carrying a shipment of military equipment the night it sank. Sweden’s outgoing PM Carl Bildt said on the day of the shipwreck that the bodies of the victims should be lifted up. His successor Ingvar Carlsson repeated the sentiment in an interview shortly after the disaster.

“At the same time, the Swedish secret service was panicking. What have we done? What if it comes to light? My source told me that the heads of the Swedish secret service knocked on the prime minister’s door the following day and said that lifting the wreck would be a bad idea and that Sweden should not do it. As far as I have gathered, divers later removed evidence from Estonia. As you know, a considerable part of footage from the Estonia wreck is missing,” Davis said.

Mysterious businessman

Stephen Davis has covered the Estonia disaster in his book from last year “Truthteller. An investigative reporter’s journey through the world of truth prevention, fake news and conspiracy theories.”

In it, he associates the smuggling of Russian weapons systems with Tallinn businessman Aleksandr Voronin who allegedly procured Russian military equipment through his brother in Moscow and sold it to the west.

The Estonian press wrote about Voronin in December of 2006. Footage from the MS Estonia wreck taken in December of 1994 has divers looking for something in cabins. They finally find a suitcase in cabin 6230 and ask the operator: “This reads Aleksandr Voronin. Is this what we are looking for?”

Then Foreign Minister Rein Lang said 14 years ago that the suitcase belonged to a businessman with a Russian background who survived the shipwreck. He said it is possible the businessman simply wanted his belongings recovered. We cannot ask Voronin himself because he died in 2002.