A delegation from Russia's Security Council boarded the warship at the port of Sal to question the 15 crew before they could be taken to a waiting Russian plane at a nearby airport, Russian ambassador Alexander Karpuchin said.

The crew, along with eight suspected hijackers from three countries, were taken aboard the Russian submarine hunter Ladny off the coast of Cape Verde on Monday at the end of a high-seas chase which lasted more than three weeks.

The crew were expected to be taken to Moscow later on Wednesday.

"We have taken all the steps with the Cape Verdean authorities to proceed with the transfer of the crew from our warship to the airport, which could happen at any time," Karpuchin told local radio.

Port authority chief Carlos Melquiades told local radio that "everything is ready for the transfer of the Russian citizens from one piece of Russian territory, the navy ship, to another piece of Russian territory, which is the plane that is waiting for them at Amilcar Cabral airport to take them back to their country."

Meanwhile, Russian investigators have been trying to piece together what exactly happened on the Russian-owned ship since it set sail from Finland on July 24, bound for Algeria with a cargo of timber worth 1.2 million euros (1.8 million dollars).

In a clear signal that Russia has taken over the investigation, Karpuchin said Security Council members had boarded the ship "for an initial questioning of the crew members, to try to understand effectively what happened aboard the Arctic Sea."

Speculation about what happened to the Arctic Sea since radio contact was lost shortly after July 24 has included suggestions the ship was involved in smuggling or trafficking, or the victim of piracy, a commercial row or even a Mafia dispute.

Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Tuesday the ship was attacked on July 24 in Swedish territorial waters by pirates from Russia, Latvia and Estonia.

Radio contact with the 4,000 tonne ship was reportedly lost shortly afterwards.

Reports emerged from Moscow on Wednesday that the hijackers threatened to blow up the ship unless a ransom was paid.

"Crewmembers confirm that the hijackers demanded a ransom and threatened to blow the ship up if their orders were not obeyed," Interfax quoted an unnamed Russian defence ministry spokesman as saying.

The hijackers were armed but abandoned their weapons when they were intercepted by the Ladny, the report said.

While it was initially thought that the ship had vanished without trace, Malta's Maritime Authority (MMA) revealed on Wednesday that its whereabouts had been known "for several days" before the Russian announcement of its arrest.

The vessel is registered in Malta.

Swedish, Maltese and Finnish maritime authorities decided not to disclose any sensitive information "in order not to jeopardise the life and safety of the persons on board and the integrity of the ship," the MMA said.

Police in Finland meanwhile said the full version of events may not emerge for months, adding that the mastermind of the operation may still be at large.

"It will take months before we have an insight into what actually took place and something really of significance to tell the media. We have at least six countries involved in some way," said Chief Superintendent Rabbe von Hertzen of Finland's National Bureau of Investigation.

Von Hertzen told reporters in Helsinki that the Arctic Sea would be released to the ship's owner after investigations had been completed and a new crew would take it to Algeria.

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