Pirates Seize Ukrainian Ship Carrying 33 Tanks

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Pirates Seize Ukrainian Ship Carrying 33 Tanks
September 26, 2008
Associated Press

MOSCOW - Russia's navy ordered a warship to Somalia's coast, officials said Friday, after pirates seized a Ukrainian vessel loaded with 33 tanks, ammunition, and Russian and Ukrainian crew members.

Russian navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said in a statement that the frigate Neustrashimy left the Russia's Baltic port of Baltiisk on Wednesday. The statement did not specifically mention the seizure on Thursday of the Ukrainian ship.

Dygalo did not answer calls that The Associated Press made to his cell phone later Friday.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Yury Yekhanurov, meanwhile, said that the ship, the Faina, was carrying 33 Russian T-72 tanks and a substantial quantity of ammunition and spare parts. Yekhanurov said the tanks were sold in accordance with international law, according to Larisa Mudrak, a spokeswoman for Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

A Kenyan government spokesman, Alfred Mutua, confirmed that the East African nation's military had ordered the tanks and spare parts and said Kenya had made such a huge order of tanks as part of a two-year rearmament program for the military.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/September-2008/pirates-seize-ukrainian-ship-carrying-33-tanks.html?col=1186032311124