A ship operating under the Maltese flag, owned by a Finnish company and with a Russian crew was last spotted north of the French coast on July 30 and was probably hijacked three weeks ago near the Swedish island of Gotland.
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Russia's navy has been deployed to find a ship reportedly hijacked three weeks ago in the Baltic Sea.
Up to five vessels - reported to include nuclear submarines - will be involved in the search for the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea, the navy confirmed.
It has a 15-strong Russian crew and was reportedly taking timber worth $1.5m (£900,000) from Finland to Algeria when it was boarded by gunmen on 24 July.
British authorities say the 4,000-tonne vessel may have been spotted subsequently by a Portuguese coastal patrol aircraft, but its current location remains unknown.
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Nick Davis, who runs the private security firm Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions, told the BBC that the relatively low value of the cargo suggested the ship's seizure may be the result of a "commercial dispute" in which one party had decided to "take matters into their own hands".
But he added: "Piracy is piracy - if someone's wanting to take that vessel, and they're not authorised, and they use a speedboat to go and get it, then it's no different to what the Somalis do."
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BBC NEWS | Europe | Russian navy joins hunt for ship