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Russia offers to work with NATO in pirate patrols: officials
Brussels (AFP) July 22, 2009 Russia has offered to coordinate the movements of its vessels hunting Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden with NATO, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. The offer was made at a meeting of ambassadors at a NATO-Russia council meeting, representatives of the two sides said. NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the alliance was considering the Russian offer. Russia's ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Dmitry Rogozin, said that his country would not place its ships under NATO command but declared "we need coordination". He highlighted how Russia was already working with a European Union military mission with ships and planes patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean to ward off pirate attacks. NATO made its patrols in the region permanent in June. Only one Russian ship is believed to be patrolling in the region now but Rogozin said his offer was "judged interesting" by NATO ambassadors at the meeting. The NATO spokesman said that Rogozin proposed "detailed discussion on how we could step up cooperation between Russian ships and others off the coast of the Gulf of Aden, including coordinated patrols, as well as liaison between the ships and the possibility of training on the control of piracy." Appathurai added: "NATO has to flesh out these ideas to see what's possible". Cooperation could be difficult because the western alliance does not want to give details of its procedures and technology. "Sometimes some elements are more difficult," the spokesman said. "The Russians understand: they have their own restrictions," he added. NATO and Russia have had tense relations since Russia's five day war with Georgia in August last year. But the two sides agreed in June to resume political and military cooperation. At Wednesday's meeting NATO and Russia also exchanged views on the alliance's eastward expansion. "Our NATO partners asked us many questions about why we think NATO expansion and the installation of NATO military facilities ever closer to our borders is a threat," a senior Russian official told the press. He spoke after explaining Russia's new "national security strategy" at the meeting, attended by the ambassadors of the 28 NATO members and Rogozin. The strategy which sees NATO and the United States as the main threat to Russia's security was adopted on May 12. Rogozin said the meeting was an "intellectual dialogue that is to lead to a political dialogue", which had allowed his country to explain its world vision. As US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Georgia after talks in Ukraine, the deputy head of Russia's security council Vladimir Nazarov said the war between Georgia and Russia over a breakaway Georgian territory had seriously affected trust between Moscow and the West. Georgia, a former Soviet republic, is seeking to join NATO. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Yemen navy repels pirate attack on tanker Sanaa (AFP) July 21, 2009 The Yemeni navy repelled a attack by Somali pirates on a Yemeni oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday, a military spokesman said. "Somali pirates on 14 boats tried to attack the oil tanker Yemen Oil 7 on its way from Aden to Hudeida" on the Red Sea, the spokesman said in the defence ministry's online newspaper 26sep.net. "Navy forces immediately took on the boats, submitting them to ... read more |
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