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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Did the USSR Give Birth to Somali Pirates?
2009-05-22
A RETIRED rear admiral of the Soviet navy reportedly admitted today that some Somali pirates had been trained at USSR naval academies.
Most all the proper-thinking third world socialist countries sent their young'uns to Soviet military academies for training.
I've a Bangladeshi friend who did that, then went on to become an engineer in the civilian world. He reported to Mr. Wife for a number of years, before getting into the micro-loan business, doing well by doing good.
Sergey Bliznyuk told the Ukrainian newspaper Gazeta Po-Kievskiy that he had personally come across some men he now believes are behind many hijackings.

"There are many former military men among the Somalis who have perfected the tactics of sea combat," he said. "The majority of these 40-50-year-olds were trained in the former Soviet Union.

"I myself taught at one point at a school in Baku [Azerbaijan], where we had 70-80 Somalis a year studying."

Bliznyuk told the newspaper that Soviet officers had trained naval personnel from the government of President Siad Barre, who ruled Somalia in 1969-91 after a military coup. Further, Bliznyuk told the newspaper: "The USSR taught not only Somali natives but also those of Yemen, Ethiopia and others. Who would have assumed then that they would turn against us?"

The notion of professionally trained seafarers turning pirates is not an isolated concern: at least one security company trained Puntland coastguards before Somalia's government collapsed some years ago.
Posted by:3dc

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