Typical Russian

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Chinaski
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Typical Russian

Post by Chinaski » Fri May 14, 2010 2:35 pm

Sorry, this just made me laugh.
Freed Somali pirates 'probably died' - Russian source

Ten suspected Somali pirates captured by the Russian navy last week may have perished after their release, a defence source in Moscow has told reporters.

Marines seized them during a dramatic operation to free a hijacked Russian oil tanker far from shore, killing an 11th suspect in the gun battle.

They were released in an inflatable boat without navigational equipment.

Within an hour, contact was lost with the boat's radio beacon, the defence source said.

"It seems that they all died," the unnamed source was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency.

Russia initially said the 10 pirates would be taken to Moscow to face criminal charges over the hijacking, but they were released instead because there were not sufficient legal grounds to detain them, the defence ministry in Moscow said.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Russia is a signatory, gives sovereign nations the right to seize and prosecute pirates.

Western officials were very surprised when the Russian authorities dropped plans to put the pirates on trial in Moscow, the BBC's Richard Galpin reports from Moscow.

Now there is even more surprise the pirates were set adrift in the Indian Ocean to make their own way home, he adds.

Unknown factors

The tanker, the Moscow University, was seized on 5 May some 350km (190 nautical miles) off the Yemeni island of Socotra as it sailed for China, carrying crude oil worth $50m (£33m).

Marines from the Russian warship Marshal Shaposhnikov stormed the ship the following day, freeing the 23 Russian crew members who had locked themselves in a safe room after disabling their ship.

Cdr John Harbour, spokesman for the EU naval force in Somalia, Navfor, said the Russian navy had been within its rights to release the suspects.

It was, he told the BBC News website, impossible to judge their situation without knowing the details of the boat - described as an inflatable by Russian sources - and the radio beacon they had been given.

It was quite likely the Russian ship lost radar contact with the boat after an hour, Cdr Harbour said, while the signal from the beacon would depend on the strength of its battery and whether or not it could be detected by satellite.

The Navfor spokesman suggested the loss of navigational equipment would not necessarily be critical if there was an experienced mariner among the 10 men on the boat.

Stressing that nothing could be said for sure without knowledge of the boat, the weather and other factors, he noted that pirates had been known to operate up to 1,200 nautical miles (2,200km) from the Somali coast.
So obvious. Not enough legal grounds to detain them, so they let them go in an inflatable boat and no navigation systems. Woops, they died.

I let them go.
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by klr » Fri May 14, 2010 2:38 pm

Yes, I read this as well yesterday and had the same reaction :whistle:. I can just imagine the shrug of the shoulders as they cast the "lifeboat" away. A typically Russian solution ...
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by FBM » Fri May 14, 2010 2:40 pm

I'd guess the pirates were given a trial and execution at sea. Saves a lot of taxpayers' doll...rubles. :ddpan:
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by klr » Fri May 14, 2010 2:43 pm

FBM wrote:I'd guess the pirates were given a trial and execution at sea. Saves a lot of taxpayers' doll...rubles. :ddpan:
Funnily enough, I'm inclined to believe the "official" version. If they were lying, we'll find out in due course.

I guess that in future, Russian vessels will be a little less attractive as targets for your average Somali pirate. :coffee:
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by owtth » Fri May 14, 2010 2:44 pm

klr wrote:
FBM wrote:I'd guess the pirates were given a trial and execution at sea. Saves a lot of taxpayers' doll...rubles. :ddpan:
Funnily enough, I'm inclined to believe the "official" version. If they were lying, we'll find out in due course.

I guess that in future, Russian vessels will be a little less attractive as targets for your average Somali pirate. :coffee:
That was probably the intended message, but desperation will probably override any resulting reluctance.
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by FBM » Fri May 14, 2010 2:46 pm

klr wrote:
FBM wrote:I'd guess the pirates were given a trial and execution at sea. Saves a lot of taxpayers' doll...rubles. :ddpan:
Funnily enough, I'm inclined to believe the "official" version. If they were lying, we'll find out in due course.

I guess that in future, Russian vessels will be a little less attractive as targets for your average Somali pirate. :coffee:
I'd hope that that would be the result in either case, but them pirates don't seem to be too sharp. They've got a history of trying to pirate battleships, FFS. :roll:
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by Ian » Fri May 14, 2010 2:52 pm

klr wrote: I guess that in future, Russian vessels will be a little less attractive as targets for your average Somali pirate. :coffee:
They won't. Many attacks happen in darkness or twighlight hours when a vessel's nationality cannot be made out. Others can't be determined by the pirates until they're already right up close to the ship, i.e. past the point of no return in their attack. And their understanding of which ships are coming by at which times is very limited.

One would think they would've learned not to attack US ships. A couple encounters ended very, very badly for the pirates. But not only have they attacked US-flag ships, they tried to hijack a couple US warships in recent months! Give the US Navy some credit for capturing them instead of blowing them out of the water. The Russkies might not have held their fire so well.

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Re: Typical Russian

Post by klr » Fri May 14, 2010 2:55 pm

FBM wrote:
klr wrote:
FBM wrote:I'd guess the pirates were given a trial and execution at sea. Saves a lot of taxpayers' doll...rubles. :ddpan:
Funnily enough, I'm inclined to believe the "official" version. If they were lying, we'll find out in due course.

I guess that in future, Russian vessels will be a little less attractive as targets for your average Somali pirate. :coffee:
I'd hope that that would be the result in either case, but them pirates don't seem to be too sharp. They've got a history of trying to pirate battleships, FFS. :roll:
I guess they don't have an up-to-date copy of Janes' Fighting Ships handy - or a mobile internet connection. Even then, warships do tend to stand out from your average freighter or tanker. :roll:

EDIT:
Ian wrote:
klr wrote: I guess that in future, Russian vessels will be a little less attractive as targets for your average Somali pirate. :coffee:
They won't. Many attacks happen in darkness or twighlight hours when a vessel's nationality cannot be made out. Others can't be determined by the pirates until they're already right up close to the ship, i.e. past the point of no return in their attack. And their understanding of which ships are coming by at which times is very limited.

You'd have thought they would've learned not to attack US ships. A couple encounters ended very, very badly for the pirates. But not only have they attacked US-flag ships, they tried to hijack a couple US warships in recent months! Give the US Navy some credit for capturing them instead of blowing them out of the water. The Russkies might not have held their fire so well.
Good point. But more fools them then though, if they have no clue what they're heading for.
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by Feck » Fri May 14, 2010 3:02 pm

The good news is the nice Russians released the poor impoverished 'pirates' the bad news is that their boat had a few 20mm holes in it and they were 150 miles away from land .


Look on the bright side they pissed off Putin and their corpses didn't have to be buried in lead coffins !
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by Mysturji » Fri May 14, 2010 4:05 pm

Come on, guys, be fair. How were the Russkies to know that the inflatable boat had a leak?
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by Trolldor » Fri May 14, 2010 4:09 pm

I would have to say it was the bullet they fired at it.
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Re: Typical Russian

Post by Toontown » Mon May 17, 2010 10:44 pm

Gosh. How far into the abyss has "international law" sunk? Armed pirates seize a ship, are captured aboard the ship they seized, and there were insufficient grounds to detain them?

A likely story, of course. Or, at least I think.

It hasn't been very long since I was involved in a huge brawl with a large pack of freaking neoprogs who were viciously opposed to even allowing merchant vessels to arm themselves against pirates - supposedly on legalistic/insurance/humanitarian grounds. So who the fuck knows what's going on in this loony bin these days.

At any rate, it's one of the very few things the Russians have ever done that just happened to work out for the good of mankind.

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