MOSCOW. July 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Five groups of pirates with a combined force of over 5,000 people operate in the Gulf of Aden, deputy chief of the Russian Navy Staff Rear Adm. Oleg Burtsev has said.
"Actually there are now five groups of pirates there. It is very easy to replenish the loss of pirates who actually seize ships because there are over 5,000 of them. New fighters will take the place of the killed," he said on Ekho Moskvy radio on Saturday.
Burtsev said the fight should be conducted not against "shepherds that have descended from the mountains and picked up arms" but those who coordinate and organize them. The entire international community is thinking of that, he said.
The issue of Somalia cannot be resolved by military methods alone, without resolving political and humanitarian issues, the rear admiral said.
He said that a major international force comparable to the one that the United States is keeping in the Persian Gulf has been set up in the Gulf of Aden. "Unlike there [the Persian Gulf] where mainly U.S. ships are located, here the force is multinational," he said.
Fast boats and helicopters are mainly used to fight the pirates while big warships are meant mainly for intimidation, he said adding that to use anti-submarine ships would be the same as using a steam-roller to crush a fly.