A dozen sailors from the Moscow University tanker, which was briefly seized by Somali pirates last week, will return to Russia this month, the mother of a crew member said.
Ten pirates were captured and one killed in an operation on May 6 to free the Moscow University tanker, captured the day before.
"They will return in May. The exact date is unknown. Maybe, next week," Lyudmila Ivanova said.
Question were raised from the fact that Russian military officials were forced to release the hijackers, captured in the rescue operation, because there is no international legal base to carry out prosecution procedures against pirates.
The captured pirates were disarmed and set adrift in a rubber boat without navigation equipment. The Russian military concluded that the hijackers perished as their boat disappeared from radars an hour after they were released.
KRASNODAR, May 14 (RIA Novosti)
