OREANDA-NEWS. May 06, 2010. Minister Serdyukov explained how at 8 am on May 5 the Marshal Shaposhnikov anti-submarine destroyer received news of the tanker's hijacking and headed to its rescue. After a reconnaissance tour by a helicopter between midnight and 1 am on May 6, the destroyer approached the oil tanker. At 5:20 this morning Russian forces stormed the tanker and completely liberated it by 6 am. All members of the tanker's crew and the boarding team are alive and well.

The President commended the professionalism of the boarding team and ordered Mr Serdyukov to prepare a ceremony for rewarding participants in the operation to free the tanker. As for the pirates captured during the liberation of the Moscow University tanker, the President noted that the Russian authorities will deal with them as required by naval law.

During the working meeting President Medvedev stressed the necessity of developing an international legal framework for combating piracy and noted that he has repeatedly raised this issue at international summits, including at the recent Washington [nuclear security] summit. Soon he will commission the Russian ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs to work further on this issue.

The Moscow University tanker, sailing under the Liberian flag with a cargo of crude oil from Sudan to China, was captured on May 5 in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Somalia. The crew composed of 23 Russians was at the mercy of the pirates. In the morning of May 6, the marines of the Marshal Shaposhnikov anti-submarine destroyer conducted an operation to free the vessel.