Russia’s Defense Ministry uploaded a video on Tuesday showing a Russian warship’s marine corps squad liberating a civilian cargo ship from pirates in the Gulf of Guinea. As the Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier, the Panama-flagged container ship Lucia bound from Togo to Cameroon was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea. After receiving a distress signal, the Russian warship sent a helicopter with a marine corps squad to liberate the vessel. The video footage shows a marine corps unit from the large anti-submarine destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov landing on the Lucia container ship and inspecting the vessel.
A taskforce from the Russian Northern Fleet has been on an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Guinea over the past three weeks. The pirates fled the cargo ship after the helicopter approached the vessel. Later, an anti-terror squad from the Russian warship boarded the cargo ship, freed the crew and started inspecting the vessel. The taskforce consists of the rescue tug Altai, the medium sea tanker Akademik Pashin and the large anti-submarine warfare ship Vice Admiral Kulakov. The Russian marines are providing security for shipping, and monitoring the maritime situation using deck-based aviation.
