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[dwarfed one]

http://www.en.rian.ru/russia/20100511/158968138.html

The Somali pirates who were captured in an assault operation after hijacking a Russian tanker near the Gulf of Aden and then released by Russian military officials have not reached the coast and have apparently perished, a top-ranking source in Russia's Defense Ministry told journalists on Tuesday.

Russia's Moscow University tanker was hijacked last week near the Gulf of Aden. Ten pirates were captured and one was killed in the assault operation, which lasted just 22 minutes. None of the 23 Russian crewmembers on board the tanker were injured during the vessel's release.

The captured pirates were initially to be sent to Moscow for prosecution, but Russian military officials then made the decision to release them, citing the absence of a relevant international legal base to carry out prosecution procedures against pirates and the inability to reveal the nationality of the detained hijackers.

A source in the Russian Defense Ministry earlier told RIA Novosti that the pirates had been disarmed and "sent adrift" in a rubber boat without navigation equipment.

The boat reportedly disappeared from radars an hour after they had been released by the Russian military.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged last week to punish pirates who take vessels hostage off the Somali coast "with the full force of maritime law."

Until a legal system allowing hijackers to be punished is created, "we will have to act as our forefathers did when they met pirates," he said, without specifying how exactly the pirates should be punished.

Russia has repeatedly called for the creation of a special juridical body to try hijackers captured during anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast. In late April, the UN Security Council adopted Russia's proposal to consider the creation of a new court for this purpose.

Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, has said that sometimes "people suspected of piracy are released just because it is impossible to bring them to justice quickly."

[Jackrabbit]

Oooooh, bet the Russians drowned them.

Crackpot conspiracy counter: 1

[Caesar]

The Russians probably brainwashed them, turning them into mindless slaves!


Crackpot conspiracy counter: 2

[RedKing]

Umm...I don't see how that's a conspiracy theory. I mean, what else would you expect them to do? Hell, I'm surprised more navies don't do this.


Be interesting to see if pirate attacks on Russian-flagged vessels drops after this.

[Char13magne]

The Pope did it (It's always the Pope).

Crackpot conspiracy counter: 3

[Pathos]

Cthulhu got them.

Crackpot conspiracy counter: 4

[Virex]

Silly Ruskies. When you sent someone adrift in a rubber boat, you usually inflate the boat first....

[Ultimuh]

Silly Ruskies. When you sent someone adrift in a rubber boat, you usually inflate the boat first....

Ah but in Russia.. Rubber boats inflate YOU!

[SIGVARDR]

Doesn't really matter what happened.The tanker was saved,crewman un-injured,and nobody of any value died.

[Zironic]

The irony of the situation is, I don't have a problem with this.

[Bandages]

Lives are lives. It's always sad to see someone die, even if they only cause people pain.

Drowning is a hell of a way to go, too.

[fenrif]

nobody of any value died.

That's a horribly callous thing to say.

I'm pretty sure there's a reason Somalia has such a problem with pirates. And it isn't because Somalians are horribly barbaric monstrous people unworthy of common human decency.

...Just saying.

[Satarus]

It's because it is a lawless country with nobody to police them and prevent the piracy.  In fact quite the opposite.  Local "government" turn a blind eye because those pirates bring in millions of dollars from their extortion racket.

[Caesar]

They're poor and driven to piracy.
Of course, not everybody has those motives, but it's still a waste to see potentially good persons go to waste.

[Rilder]

They were actually spies and the rubber boat was actually a submarine (All boats can be a submarine once)

Crackpot conspiracy counter: 5