MOSCOW, November 1 - RAPSI. The Russian Foreign Ministry has confirmed the release of seven sailors - six Russians and an Estonian - who were kidnapped off the coast of Nigeria.
On Thursday the Foreign Ministry's website reported that the Russians are in good health, they have everything they need, and will return home shortly.
On October 15, pirates attacked Bourbon's Liberty 249 towing ship in the vicinity of Brass. The ship serves offshore platforms operating on the shelf. Six sailors and an Estonian national were kidnapped. Nine other sailors whose nationalities have not yet been reported managed to escape.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta is active in the area. Its fighters have a history of attacking Nigerian oil facilities and abducting foreigners working there for ransom. Pirates are also known to rob civilian ships and kidnap people off the shores of Nigeria and Cameroon.
On its website, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its gratitude to Nigerian, French, Luxemburg and Estonian partners for their assistance in freeing the hostages. There has been no information on the circumstances around their release.
Previously, the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that pirates took the sailors for ransom.
Pirates have not made life easy for Russian sailors, who, by RIA Novosti's count, have been subject to at least 22 attacks of this kind in the past four years.
