UK insurer cancels cover for Russian ship it says is carrying munitions to Syria | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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UK insurer cancels cover for Russian ship it says is carrying munitions to Syria

This image made from amateur video released by the Ugarit News and accessed Tuesday, June 19, 2012, purports to show black smoke rising from buildings in Rastan town, Homs, Syria. Syria's government said Tuesday it was ready to act on a U.N. call to evacuate civilians trapped in the rebellious central city of Homs for more than a week, but blamed rebels for obstructing efforts to get them out. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video) TV OUT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL

LONDON - A British company said Tuesday it has cancelled insurance for a Russian ship it says was carrying munitions to Syria — a shipment the British government says included refurbished military helicopters.

U.K.-based insurer Standard Club said in a statement that it had been made aware that a Russian ship, MV Alaed, was carrying the munitions destined for Syria, in clear breach of its rules.

"We consequently informed the ship owner that their insurance cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of the voyage," it said in a statement.

Britain's Foreign Office confirmed it was aware that a ship carrying a consignment of refurbished Russian-made attack helicopters was heading to Syria. It said Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague had told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that all defence shipments to Syria must stop.

"We are working closely with international partners to ensure that we are doing all we can to stop the Syrian regime's ability to slaughter civilians being reinforced through assistance from other countries," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The BBC reported Tuesday that the ship was about 50 miles (80 kilometres) off the Outer Hebrides off the northwest coast of Scotland. The Foreign Office and Standard Club refused to give details of its location.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a harsh reprimand of Russia last week, when she said that Moscow "dramatically" escalated the crisis in Syria by sending attack helicopters there. The State Department acknowledged later the helicopters she accused Moscow of sending were actually refurbished ones already owned by the Assad regime, but Russia was clearly annoyed, and the spat further fueled tensions between the two countries over Syria.

It was not immediately clear whether the helicopters aboard the Alaed were the ones to which Clinton had been referring.

News from © The Associated Press, 2012
The Associated Press

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