A U.S. warship has come close to the Ukrainian ship Faina seized by Somalia pirates. Local authorities explained the move with the wish to prevent the unloading the weaponry from the Faina.
The Faina was carrying 33 T-62 tanks, other weaponry and ammunition to Kenya. It has a crew of 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Latvian.
According to the latest reports, the pirates cut the sum of ransom from $35 million to $5 million. They warned though that any attempts to resolve the problem by force would lead to the death of the Faina crewmembers and further unpredictable consequences.
The Neustrashimy patrol ship of the Russian Baltic Fleet is on its way to the incident zone.
It is still unclear who is negotiating with the pirates. The Kenyan government said it would not be responsible for the cargo until it was unloaded. This means that the Ukrainian side must negotiate the release of the crew, the ship and the weaponry.
