A Russian maritime expert who said a cargo ship reported missing en route to Africa had been carrying weapons said yesterday he had fled the country after being threatened.

"Some influential people called me and... advised me to leave Russia within several hours," Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia's respected Sovfracht maritime journal, told Reuters by telephone from Turkey.

"I am afraid of being detained (in Russia)." He said the callers did not identify themselves. The Maltese-registered Arctic Sea, officially carrying timber from Russia to Algeria, was boarded by a group of eight men on July 24. Its whereabouts were a mystery for weeks until Russian warships intercepted it off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean on August 17.

Charges of kidnapping and piracy were brought against eight men - citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia - last week in Moscow. Their lawyers called them "peaceful ecologists".

Prosecutors maintained the ship was carrying timber.

While the ship was still missing, Mr Voitenko caused an international storm by saying the ship was carrying illegal weapons. Describing the situation as "cloak and dagger stuff", he had said the state was most likely involved.

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