LONDON: A Russian-operated ship said to be carrying military helicopters to Syria appears to have turned back after its British insurer removed coverage for the vessel, UK officials said Tuesday.    

Britain’s Foreign Office said the ship, the MV Alaed, changed course in Europe after news reports emerged about its alleged contents. Earlier, the Foreign Office confirmed it was aware that a ship carrying a consignment of refurbished Russian-made attack helicopters was heading to Syria.

The ship has “turned back now apparently toward Russia,” Foreign Secretary William Hague told British lawmakers in Parliament. The vessel appeared to have been avoiding UK territorial waters and EU territorial waters, his ministry added.

“It is good news that the shipment of attack helicopters we’ve been tracking in the North Sea in recent days is heading away from Syria,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said during the G-20 summit in Mexico on Tuesday.

“But we will continue to work to stem the flow of weapons.”

The news came after the UK-based insurer Standard Club said it removed insurance coverage for the ship owner when it became aware it was carrying munitions, a clear breach of its rules.

The BBC reported Tuesday that the ship was about 50 miles off the Outer Hebrides off the northwest coast of Scotland. The Foreign Office said it was heading toward the Netherlands when it changed course to avoid Dutch territorial waters and turned north.

Russian officials have not commented on the ship or its reported contents. The vessel’s Russian operator, Femco, refused to comment Tuesday.    Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the G-20 summit that only the Syrian people have the right to decide whether their president, Bashar Assad, steps down.

Putin said Tuesday that not all Syrians want a change in leadership and that all parties need to negotiate a solution to end the bloodshed.

Britain has joined the United States and other countries in pressing Russia to halt arms shipments to Assad's regime. Opposition groups say more than 14,000 people have been killed since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011 with mostly peaceful protests.

A ferocious government crackdown, however, led many to take up arms and the conflict is now an armed insurgency.

Syria is Russia's last remaining ally in the Middle East, and has been a major customer of Soviet and Russian weapons industries for the last four decades, acquiring billions of dollars' worth of combat jets, helicopters, missiles, armored vehicles and other military gear. Russia has also shielded Assad's regime from international sanctions over its violent crackdown.

The Foreign Office said Hague has told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that all defense shipments to Syria must stop.

President Barack Obama said at the G-20 that China and Russia were “not aligned” with the US and other nations on Syria but said both countries’ leaders recognize the dangers of a civil war, after meeting with Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the economic summit

Maj Gen Robert Mood, chief of the UN observer mission in the country, has demanded that all warring parties in the conflict allow safe passage for women, children and sick people who need to leave the city and other combat zones.

Mood, speaking after briefing the UN Security Council during a closed meeting on the situation in Syria, said that questions about canceling the mission were premature and noted, “We are not going anywhere.”