Cartagena, Spain
The extraordinary fate of the Ursa Major has been shrouded in secrecy since it sank on December 23, 2024. But it may mark a rare and high-stakes intervention by a Western military to prevent Russia from sending an upgrade in nuclear technology to a key ally, North Korea, CNN reporting suggests. The ship set sail just two months after Kim Jong Un had sent troops to assist with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
A flurry of recent military activity around its remains has deepened the mystery around its cargo and destination. US nuclear “sniffer” aircraft have flown over the sunken ship twice in the past year, according to public flight data. And its wreckage was also visited a week after it sank by a suspected Russian spy ship which set off four further explosions, according to a source familiar with the Spanish investigation into the incident.
The Spanish government has said little, only releasing a statement on February 23 after pressure from opposition lawmakers. It confirmed that the ship’s Russian captain had told Spanish investigators the Ursa Major was carrying “components for two nuclear reactors similar to those used in submarines,” and that he was unsure if they were loaded with nuclear fuel.
The series of events which led the Ursa Major to sink to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea remains unclear. It may have involved the use of a rare type of torpedo to breach the ship’s hull, according to the Spanish investigation, as described by the source familiar with its contents. The incident occurred in the closing days weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, when the war in Ukraine was peaking in Moscow’s favor, and there was a strong US desire not to directly escalate with Moscow.
The Ursa Major, also known as Sparta 3 and a veteran of Russia’s military campaign in Syria – where it was used to evacuate Russian equipment – docked in the fuel port of Ust-Luga in the Gulf of Finland on December 2, before moving to a container facility in St. Petersburg’s docks. The ship’s public manifest said it was bound for Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East, when it departed on December 11, carrying two large “manhole covers,” 129 empty shipping containers, and two large Liebherr cranes.
In October that year, its owner, the state-linked Oboronlogistics, said in a statement that their ships had been licensed to carry nuclear material. Time-lapse video footage of the Ursa Major’s loading at Ust-Luga, analyzed by CNN, shows containers being put inside the hull, with a gap left below where the “manhole covers” would later sit.
The ship moved down the French coast, before Portuguese Navy aircraft and vessels tracked it through their waters, according to a statement from the Navy. Two Russian military ships, the Ivan Gren and Aleksandr Otrakovsky, escorted the vessel, and on the morning of December 22, the Portuguese navy dropped the tail, the statement added.
About fouThe Spanish government has said little, only releasing a statement on February 23 after pressure from opposition lawmakers. It confirmed that the ship’s Russian captain had told Spanish investigators the Ursa Major was carrying “components for two nuclear reactors similar to those used in submarines,” and that he was unsure if they were loaded with nuclear fuel.
The series of events which led the Ursa Major to sink to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea remains unclear. It may have involved the use of a rare type of torpedo to breach the ship’s hull, according to the Spanish investigation, as described by the source familiar with its contents. The incident occurred in the closing days weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, when the war in Ukraine was peaking in Moscow’s favor, and there was a strong US desire not to directly escalate with Moscow.r hours later, in Spanish waters, the ship slowed dramatically, prompting Spanish rescuers to radio and check if it was in distress, according to the Spanish government investigation, carried out by the local maritime authorities in the southern port of Cartagena. The ship’s crew replied that it was fine.
But about 24 hours later, the ship deviated sharply from its course and, at 11:53 a.m. UTC on December 23, issued an urgent call for help, the investigation said. It had suffered three explosions on its starboard side, likely near its engine room, that killed two crew members. This left the vessel listing and immobile, as social media video of the boat shows.
The 14 surviving crew members evacuated on a lifeboat, and were later picked up by the Salvamar Draco, a Spanish rescue boat. At 7:27 p.m., a Spanish military vessel arrived to assist. But half an hour later, one of the Russian military ships that had escorted the Ursa Major, the Ivan Gren, ordered nearby vessels to keep two nautical miles away, and later asked they return the rescued crew immediately.
The Spanish maritime rescue authorities insisted they must conduct a rescue operation, and sent a helicopter to the ship to check for survivors. Footage seen by CNN shows a rescuer trying to enter the ship’s engine room, but finding it sealed. The Spanish rescuer checks the living quarters for survivors, and peers inside the ships’ containers to see two filled with trash, fishing nets and other equipment, according to the video.
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