By Patricie Kerry

SAINT PETERSBURG (Sunatimes)- According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, the Russian Sailors' Trade Union will use all available means to ensure that Russians are not sent to work in the Gulf of Aden.

In an appeal published on the organization's website, condolences are expressed to the family of the sailor killed by pirates on the ship "Beluga Nomination".

The Sailors' Trade Union is convinced that the "deliberate, cold-blooded murder of a Philippines sailor by pirates should change the international community's attitude towards Somali pirates. Until this case, sailors seized as hostages, as a rule, were not killed. When fatal instances occurred, they did so without prior intent, and due to accidents or a combination of circumstances."

"It seems the Somali pirates have changed, and now piracy at sea can no longer be distinguished from terrorism. But whereas every state battles against terrorism on its own territory, the battle against piracy in international waters should be conducted by all states: both the states of the ship-owners' countries, and the states of countries whose sailors are working on the vessels and being captured," the statement says.

The Russian Sailors' Trade Union notes that in September 2010, "a million signatures were collected in a petition calling on the UN and the governments of all countries to join forces in the battle against piracy, but the situation has not improved. The murder and the disappearance of sailors is evidence that the pirates have overstepped the mark which divided the seizure of vessels from terrorism".

"To stop piracy, it is not enough to defend vessels in the Gulf of Aden. The terrorists' bases on shore need to be destroyed. We know of examples whereby such operations to destroy terrorist bases were carried out by the US Armed Forces. We, the maritime trade unions, representing the interests of sailors, should demand that the UN and countries' governments take any measures which they consider necessary to ensure the security of sailors in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia," the appeal says.

"Until the safety of sailors in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia has been ensured, I believe that sailors should not work in those dangerous regions. The Russian Sailors' Trade Union will use all means available to the trade union to ensure that Russian sailors do not go to work in the aforementioned areas. But this action can only have a result if all sailors' trade unions pursue the same policy and support such a campaign, when there are no strike-breakers among sailors," the head of the trade union says.

The Russian Sailors' Trade Union of has sent this appeal to the acting chairman of the Associated Marine Officers' and Seamen's Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP), the chairman of Ukraine's federation of shipping workers' trade unions, the chairman of Ukraine's shipping workers' trade union and the secretary-general of the International Transport Workers' Federation of (ITF) and the maritime coordinator of the ITF.

Sunatimes.com

Email: [email protected]