Russia To Continue Anti-Piracy Efforts In Gulf Of Aden

[News_Editor]

Russia to continue anti-piracy efforts in Gulf of Aden

2010-11-26 08:43:09 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday said that Russia will continue its anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, RIA Novosti reported.

Medvedev reiterated that Russian warships will continue patrolling the area in order to protect commercial shipping routes. Russia joined the international anti-piracy efforts, led by EU Naval Force - Somalia (EU NAVFOR), in October 2008.

"I believe that we will continue to fulfill our international obligations in this region for two reasons," Medvedev said. "Primarily, we must protect our commercial ships and, under agreements with other countries, the ships sailing under foreign flags. Secondly, it helps us to maintain combat readiness."

On July 3, a task force led by the Northern Fleet’s Admiral Levchenko, an Udaloy class guided-missile destroyer, arrived in the Gulf of Aden to join the EU NAVFOR - Somalia. The Russian naval task force also includes the Olenka tanker and the SB-36 tugboat of the Black Sea Fleet.

Since arriving to the area, Northern Fleet’s Admiral Levchenko has successfully escorted 13 commercial convoys with a total of 57 vessels through the Gulf of Aden despite the huge number of pirates.

The current task force will be replaced next December by a Pacific Fleet task force led by Admiral Vinogradov destroyer.

The anti-piracy efforts off the Somali coast reduced the number of pirates attacks in the first half of 2010 by 34 percent. Somali pirates were responsible for 44 percent of the 289 pirate incidents in the first nine months of the year.

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