Americans were ready to fire at MV Faina - WikiLeaks

13.12.2010 Americans were ready to open fire at Ukrainian-crewed merchant vessel Faina captured by pirates in 2008, reports Ukrainian Pravda referring to WikiLeaks.

According to the released documents, representatives of American embassy must have consulted with Ukrainian authorities about possibility to use force against pirates and prohibit them from bringing the cargo to Somali.

"Such intervention could include disabling fire against the vessel or equipment being used to offload (lighterage) it, or boarding the vessel. Emphasize that we would only consider such actions as a last resort to prevent the cargo from being taken ashore by the pirates", said the recommendations.

At the same time, it was mentioned in the directive of ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that "if the pirates simply hold the vessel for ransom, as they have in the past, we would not intervene in this manner… Note, however, that the United States reserves the right to take urgent action if necessary".

"We are of course aware that the opposed boarding of any vessel creates a risk to the lives of the crewmembers, so we are especially interested in Ukraine's views regarding such measures, should that situation arise", added Mrs. Rice offering to "consult with the flag and crew states prior to taking action to prevent that scenario [i.e. offload of Faina's cargo in Somalia]".

MV Faina was captured by pirates on Sept 25, 2008 off Somali coast. There were 33 tanks T-72, grenade launchers, antiaircraft guns and ammunitions onboard the ship which was en route to Kenya. Pirates left the vessel on Feb 4 when they got the ransom.

Shortly after the capture, some sources reported that arms were carried by Faina to Sudan where a civil war was on. One of the arguments for this version was that Kenya has not Soviet-made arms. Both Kiev and Nairobi decisively rejected this information.