Sunday, July 18, 2010

The Russian Navy and Somali Pirates

I'm not a great admirer of the Russians, but I do give credit where credit is due. There are times when they get things brilliantly, albeit brutally, correct.

Back in May, Somali pirates made the mistake of hijacking a Russian-flagged tanker. The Russian destroyer "Admiral Panteleev" was on antipiracy patrol in the area and responded with a commando attack on the captured tanker. They they freed the tanker crew, captured the pirates and then boarded the pirate's mothership.

The Russians then sank the pirate ship along with the pirates, all without any court proceedings or lawyers.

The Russians made a video of the incident. It's mostly in Russian, but the video is self-explanatory. I suspect it will be a long time before another Russian-flagged ship is boarded by Somali pirates.


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