So why don’t I have more interest in digging around the ghost ship story?  It has all the hallmarks of the kinds of stories we like to cover around here – with siloviki, arms, corruption, and cover-ups – but untangling all the conflicting versions just doesn’t seem too rewarding.  It’s a strong reminder that nobody can produce so many stories of diametrically contradicting headlines as Russia.  Today for example, Russian officials have gone to the press to angrily deny that there were ever any arms on The Arctic Sea ship:

Speaking to reporters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the reports: “This is absolutely not true.” (…)

“All will become transparent, and I hope that everyone will be convinced that the rumors you refer to are absolutely groundless,” Lavrov said.

Aside from the fact that saying “all will become transparent” about pretty much anything in Russia is an openly hilarious joke, there are other nagging details that make this move strange to me.