MV Moscow University

On 5 May 2010, Moscow University was attacked by Somali pirates some 500 nautical miles (930 km; 580 mi) off the coast of Somalia. The crew locked themselves in the ship's radar room or engine room.[3][4] The Udaloy-class destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov was sent to assist Moscow University.[5]

On 6 May 2010, the Russian destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov arrived and fired two warning shots. The rescue operation then began when Marshal Shaposhnikov opened fire on the pirates with its cannons. Under the cover of this fire, a helicopter from the ship landed on the hijacked ship's deck and inserted Naval Infantry commandos on board, who quickly rescued the hijacked vessel.[6] The entire crew escaped unharmed.[7] One pirate was killed and 10 detained during the operation.[8] Later, the pirates were set adrift in an inflatable boat – without weapons or navigation equipment – some 300 nautical miles (560 km; 350 mi) from the coast. According to sources within the Russian Ministry of Defense, they did not reach the coast and likely died at sea.[9] The pirates' disappearance has raised speculation that they were in fact executed by the Russian commandos, particularly in the light of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev's comments that "We'll have to do what our forefathers did when they met the pirates".[10]