Four Crewmembers Remain on Hijacked Freighter in Mediterranean

Oct. 21, 2009 — -- Arkhangelsk is an inhospitable port city on the White Sea, in Russia's far north, not far from the Arctic Circle. With its crumbling wooden buildings and dilapidated Soviet-era apartment blocks, its best days are clearly behind it. Although its name mean "city of archangels" in Russian, it's not exactly the kind of place that inspires hope.

Most of the people who live here are somehow connected to the sea. That includes Yelena Sarezkaya, 51, a petite blonde with two daughters. Her husband, Sergei Sarezky, is a sailor, and he hasn't been home in quite a while. Sarezky is the captain of the Arctic Sea, the freighter that was hijacked in the Baltic Sea more than 12 weeks ago.

Yelena is at her wits' end -- particularly after having received a bizarre letter from the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office in Moscow. The letter, dated Sept. 10, states that her husband and his fellow seamen have been permitted to return home "at the expense of the federal budget."

The only problem is that Sarezky and three other crewmembers have yet to return home.

Still, Yelena takes some consolation from the fact that she can communicate with her husband via text message. "They're not saying what they plan to do with us," Sarezky texted his wife from somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.Meanwhile, the tale of confusion and intrigue surrounding the Arctic Sea goes on. It's still not clear whether the drama surrounding the Russian-owned freighter, which is based in Helsinki and was supposedly shipping a load of lumber, is a crooked trick pulled off by a competing shipping company or a case of smuggling with global implications.

On Aug. 16, the Russian naval frigate Ladny, armed with large cannons and anti-aircraft missiles, liberated the Arctic Sea from pirate control. The men who had hijacked the ship -- and most of its crew -- were flown to Moscow. The alleged hijackers are now in jail. They insist that they are merely environmentalists who were rescued by the Arctic Sea when their own vessel got into distress.