Russia’s fleet loots and terrorises: Russian sailors are forsaken once again

Valentyna Romanenko – Thursday, 3 March 2022, 12:46

Taking civilian ships hostage and using them as a shield, Russia’s naval forces are trying to sneak up on the Ukrainian coast.

Source: State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

Details: Ukraine’s border guards note that the Russian Navy is shamelessly engaging in piracy and terrorism, and shooting civilians.

On 2 March, Russia killed a citizen of Bangladesh on board the ship Banglar Samriddhi  [in a missile strike] which was raided near Mykolayiv.

The invaders took hostage the dry cargo ship Helt, which was sailing under the Panamanian flag [its owners are Finnish].

The Russian troops used the Helt as a shield, hiding behind it from Ukrainian anti-ship defences. Ukrainian troops do not shoot at civilian targets.

Also on 2 March, Russian Navy ships used the open radio channel for navigation safety to repeatedly make illegal demands and threats.

For example, in a recording released by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, a Russian warship announces a ban on mooring on the outer anchorage of Ukrainian Black Sea ports from the Danube to Skadovsk.

The Russian ship is clearly referring to obsolete – pre-decommunisation – navigation maps, where Chornomorsk is still called Illichivsk, etc.

Russian military pirates openly threaten to use weapons on any civilian vessel that has the right of peaceful passage, saying that those ships are a terrorist threat.

Over the first week of the war, the pirates of the Black Sea took hostage 4 ships, one of which – the tanker Athena – was forced at gunpoint to leave the territorial waters of Romania, a NATO country.

From time to time, Russian troops shoot at civilian ships while firing on the southern regions of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, they have hit 4 foreign ships, killing and wounding their crews.

The tanker Millennium Spirit, with 600 tons of diesel fuel on board, is still on fire in the vicinity of Ukraine. A Russian missile hit the tanker on 25 February.

The wounded crew was evacuated by the Maritime Search and Rescue Service of Ukraine. The Russian Navy is not permitting efforts to extinguish the fire and prevent an environmental catastrophe due to the fuel spillage.

Quote: "It is worth noting that the international maritime community already perceives Russian sailors as equivalent to, or even worse than, Somali pirates. In response to threats, Russians constantly hear curses and traditional wishes to follow a well-known course to hell. [nahuy].

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is recording violations of international maritime law, which will be adjudicated by international courts.

At present, border guards and other security and defence forces, continue to defend Ukraine, to defend its borders and its independence."