Wives of a group of Russian sailors taken hostage by Somali pirates in October demonstrated in Kaliningrad on Thursday to demand that authorities help free their husbands.
Pirates on two skiffs captured the Thai Union 3, a Thai-flagged fishing trawler carrying the 23 Kaliningrad sailors, as it was fishing for tuna about 200 nautical miles north of the Seychelles archipelago and 650 miles off the Somali coast, according to the EU’s anti-piracy naval force.
Negotiations between Russian authorities and the pirates have been deadlocked over a demand by the pirates that Russia hand over five pirates detained in April by Russian forces and subsequently handed over to Yemeni authorities, Russian piracy expert Mikhail Voitenko wrote on his web site last month.
"Our husbands have been held captive by the pirates for more than three months, and we have an impression that Russian authorities are not very active in solving the problem," Tamara, wife of sailor Leonid Gerasimov, told Interfax on Thursday.
The sailors' relatives have sent letters to various government agencies but have received just one reply, from the Interior Ministry, Gerasimov's wife said. The ministry said the situation was "under control," she told Interfax.
The Investigative Committee has opened a kidnapping case in connection with the ship's seizure.
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