Russia: Russian FM demands Senegal release fishing vessel

Russia: Russian FM demands Senegal release fishing vessel

Alexander Lukashevich, spokesperson for Russian Foreign Ministry, released a statement following a meeting regarding the release of the Russian fishing vessel the 'Oleg Naydenov' between Russian diplomats and Senegalese charge d'affaires Mamadou Diagna in Moscow, Thursday.

"Today, on the 9th of January, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia we held a meeting with a Senegalese charge d'affaires in Moscow Mamadou Diagna. During the meeting, in which Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Mikhail Bogdanov and Russian commissioner for human rights, democracy and the rule of law Konstantin Dolgov were also present, Russia once again demanded that the Senegalese authorities release the Russian fishing trawler Oleg Naydyonov and its crew. We stressed the necessity to strictly comply with international norms in regard to the right and legal interests of Russian sailors, including providing them with food and drinking water, providing medical help."

Lukashevich continued: "We also emphasized at the meeting that Moscow expects that this issue will be resolved in a short time in the spirit of traditional Russian-Senegalese relations. Mister Diagna assured us that Senegalese authorities will take all efforts to resolve this complicated situation so it wouldn't affect negatively mutually beneficial bilateral relations between two countries.

We, in Russian Foreign Ministry will continue, in association with Rosrybolovstvo, to keep this issue under special control."

The Russian vessel was detained on Saturday and arrived in the port of Dakar Sunday after being escorted to shore by the Senegalese navy. Senegalese authorities charge that the ship was illegally fishing, an accusation denied by the owner of the ship and parent company Feniks.