Severomorsk sails out to fight piracy

17.05.2011 Commanding officers of the cruise and Northern Fleet (NF) large ASW ship Severomorsk will discuss anti-piracy issues with representatives of NATO's Joint Force Command in Lisbon, Portugal.

"During the formal call of large ASW ship Severomorsk at Lisbon port which is to be held in May 17-19, Russian officers will pay a visit to Portuguese Navy Commander VADM Jose Monteiro Montenegro. The Russian warship will be visited by Lisbon Civil Governor Antonio Galamba", reports Vesti.Ru citing a spokesman for Russian Navy.

According to him, it is planned to conduct meetings with representatives of Joint Force Command Lisbon and Portuguese Navy HQ with the view to debate anti-piracy matters. Severomorsk will leave Lisbon on May 19 and continue the cruise in order to arrive in the Gulf of Aden early in June, said the official.

Somali piracy has become the main threat to international shipping in the Indian Ocean during the recent years. Somalia cannot cope with piracy problem because it ceased to exist as a unified state far back in 1991 after downfall of Mohammed Siad Barre's dictatorship.

According to UN, about 26 pirate assaults were carried out every year since 2000 till 2007 off Somali coast. In 2008 this number increased up to 111 and reached 400 incidents in 2009 and 2010 spreading over the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean. Only in 2010 about 790 sailors were taken hostages by pirates, reports the UN.

Anti-piracy campaign off Somalia is held within a framework of EU NAVFOR – Operation Atalanta conducted since 2008 and NATO Operation Ocean Shield launched in 2009. Aside from priority objective of counter-piracy measures, the latter one implies assistance to regional states in launching own piracy counteraction programs. Russian warships take part in anti-piracy campaign as well.