Posted on 05/05/2010 9:01:41 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
MOMBASA, Kenya (AFP) – Somali pirates seized control of an oil-laden Russian tanker in the Gulf of Aden early Wednesday, setting up a high-seas standoff with a Russian destroyer steaming to the zone.
The 230-metre (755 foot)-long Moscow University was heading east from the Gulf of Aden early Wednesday when it was boarded by pirates around 350 nautical miles off the Yemeni coast, the EU anti-piracy mission said.
The ship's Russian operator said the tanker had been on its way to China from the Red Sea with 86,000 tonnes of crude oil, believed to be worth around 50 million dollars.
The anti-piracy mission NAVFOR said the Marshal Shaposhnikov, a large Russian warship with two helicopters and an infantry unit aboard, was rushing to the hijack zone. The warship is part of the Russian fleet deployment to the international task force.
The 23 all-Russian crew of the Moscow University were unharmed, the ship's operators Novoship said.
"According to the latest information received from the master none of the 23 seafarers on board have been hurt, the vessel and the cargo sustained no damage," said Novoship, adding that communications with the vessel had been cut at 0450 GMT.
It said the attack began around 50 minutes earlier when the pirates opened fire and tried to board the vessel. The captain managed to inform naval forces in the region before his radio was silenced.
A company spokesman said later Wednesday that the pirates had yet to make a ransom demand. "No aggressor has made contact with us since the attack. No claims have been made," the Interfax news agency quoted the spokesman as saying.
...
Armed with AK-47s and grenade launchers, GPS navigation and satellite phones, pirates raked in an estimated 60 million dollars in ransoms last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I sure hope they do!
“I’m guessing the Russians don’t Mirandize pirates.”
Their rights will be explained to them very clearly.
Haven’t been keeping up? It’s been catch and release since then.
I was simply wondering why people are acting as though they’ve forgotten, and thinking Vlady is going to “teach” us anything.
Neah.
Plenty of yardarms - just not enough testicular fortitude to hang pirates or burn their bases to the ground.
It wasn’t just ANY body parts!
May I respectfully disagree? Executing individual pirates may not be effective.
Some years back kidnapping foreign diplomats was pretty popular in the ME.
Then the idjits kidnapped a Soviet diplomat.
The kidnappers got off scott-free, but decided releasing the diplomat with something akin to an apology was a really good idea after shredded family members started showing up in garbage bags on their doorsteps.
Hasn't been a Russian diplomat kidnapped since.
A punk kidnapper might be willing to risk his own wretched life for a fortune beyond his innumerate counting, but the certainty of his entire village being burned to the ground along with everything and everyone he hold dear just might give him pause.
LMAO!!!
They sure do a lot of stuff that “looks” cool.
The Russian diplomats were kidnapped/killed in Baghdad, and there was a war going on.
I predict many body bags will be needed very soon!
“Maybe we’re in for a teachable moment here.”
PAY ATTENTION OBAMA!!!!
This is incredibly sad. I just cannot believe we need to look to the Russians and the Chinese for tips on how to deal with these scum.
Sad.
Source here and scores of other places for anyone able to do a web search.
Just because you are too young to remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen...
I am soooo stealing that one!
This is incredibly sad. I just cannot believe we need to look to the Russians and the Chinese for tips on how to deal with these scum.
We have the best but they have been de-balled by liberals....
No, but they will homogenize them.
200 years from now, I want their children’s children’s children’s children
to cower and cringe in fear whenever they hear the sounds of jet engines overhead
because their legends tell of fire from the sky.
I want them to hide in dark caves and holes in the earth,
shivering with terror whenever they hear the roar of diesel engines
because the tales of their ancestors talk about metal monsters
crawling over the earth, spitting death and destruction.
I want their mothers to be able to admonish them with
“If you don’t behave, the Pale Destroyers will come for you”,
and that will be enough to reduce them to quivering obesience.
I want the annihilation to be so complete that their mythology
will tell them of the day of judgment when the stern gods from across the sea
.. the powerful ‘Mericans .. destroyed their forefathers’ wickedness.
(Original created by BlueLancer ... 13 September 2001)
And just because you are too old to realize that the last time Russian diplomats were kidnapped and killed was in 2006, it means that the tactic employed in the 1980's didn't work as well as you think.
Not a bad ROI on the cost of a Glad Bag.
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