Text 6. Soldiers and emergency workers are battling to clean up an oil spill that has reportedly killed some 30,000 birds in the Kerch Strait, by the Black Sea

13 November, 2007

Alexander Tkachev, governor of Russia's Krasnodar region, said the incident was an "ecological catastrophe".

Some 2,000 tons of fuel oil leaked into the straits between the Black Sea and the Azov Sea after a fierce storm broke a tanker apart on Sunday.

About 10 ships sank or ran aground in the region and 20 sailors are missing.

So far, 35 crew members from the stricken vessels have been plucked to safety by rescue teams. The bodies of three sailors were found on Monday morning.

At least two other ships were carrying potentially hazardous cargo when they sank, including nearly 6,000 tons of sulphur.

The Russian tanker Volganeft-139, with more than 4,000 tons of fuel aboard, came apart after it was smashed by 108 km/h (67 mph) winds and 5 m (16 ft) waves in the narrow Kerch Strait between Russia and Ukraine.

Officials estimate that nearly half the tanker load has already leaked out in the water.

"The damage is so great that it's hard to assess. It can be equated with an ecological catastrophe", the governor said.

Oil-soaked birds have been seen struggling in the polluted water, and a number of them have been found dead on the sandy shores. Others have been seen hopping weakly along the beaches, weighed down by a thick coating of fuel oil.

Hundreds of Russian soldiers have deployed to clean up the spill, but the operation is being hampered by stormy weather. Soil-excavating vehicles have been sent to clear affected beaches around the Russian port of Kavkaz.

Helicopter and ships equipped with tackling the oil spill at sea have been hampered by more stormy weather.

The heavy oil was sinking to the seabed and could take years to clean up.

Russian prosecutors say they are investigating whether the ships' captains ignored warnings of the approaching storm.

Text 7. Russian frigate begins anti-piracy patrols off Somalia coast

October 28, 2008

A missile frigate from Russia's Baltic Fleet has started patrolling waters in the Gulf of Aden to protect Russian ships and crews from pirate attacks.

The Neustrashimy (Fearless) frigate arrived at the port of Aden on Sunday to replenish food and water supplies after a trip from the Mediterranean. On Monday it entered waters off the Somali coast where local pirates have sharply increased hijackings of ships for ransom.

Somali pirates have seized around 60 ships so far this year off the coast of the east African nation, which has no effective government and no navy to police its coastline.

At the beginning of June, the UN Security Council passed a resolution permitting countries to enter Somalia's territorial waters to combat "acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea".

In order to ensure safety of Russian ships the Neustrashimy will use all means and measures sanctioned by the UN Security Council.

The Russian warship may join, if necessary, an international naval group fighting piracy in the region.

U.S. warships from the 5th Fleet are currently surrounding a Ukrainian ship, the MV Faina that was seized by Somali pirates on September 25. The Faina, which was carrying 33 T-72 tanks and other heavy weaponry, has a crew of 17 Ukrainian nationals, two Russians, and one Lithuanian on board.

The Faina's Russian captain died of a heart attack after the vessel was seized. The pirates holding the ship have demanded an $8 million ransom, and have threatened to kill the hostages if a military operation is launched against them.

NATO and the EU have announced plans to increase by the end of the year their naval presence in the Gulf of Aden, which is one of the world's busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes with about 20,000 ships passing through the area annually.