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Soviet training and assistance to Somalia dropped substantially after 1978, when the United States replaced the USSR as Somalia's patron. From 1978 until 1991, Somali military personnel participated in U.S. military exercises and trained in the United States, although the scale of the relationship was much smaller than that with the Soviet Union. While I don't doubt that some of the pirate lords and "capos" date from the Soviet period, I strongly suspect that you could find at least a few pirates with U.S. training. Moreover, Somali piracy (like piracy elsewhere) has complex, multifaceted causes. To the extent that U.S. or Soviet training matters, it's probably to identify an individual as an important player, rather than in the provision of a specific set of skills that are useful in piracy.
--Robert Farley
Via David Axe and the United States Naval Institute blog, Fairplay Shipping News reports that a retired Soviet admiral has claimed that many of the chief Somali pirates were trained in Soviet naval schools.
Sergey Bliznyuk told the Ukrainian newspaper Gazeta Po-Kievskiy that he had personally come across some men he now believes are behind many hijackings. “There are many former military men among the Somalis who have perfected the tactics of sea combat,” he said. “The majority of these 40-50-year-olds were trained in the former Soviet Union. “I myself taught at one point at a school in Baku [Azerbaijan], where we had 70-80 Somalis a year studying.” Bliznyuk told the newspaper that Soviet officers had trained naval personnel from the government of President Siad Barre, who ruled Somalia in 1969-91 after a military coup. Further, Bliznyuk told the newspaper: “The USSR taught not only Somali natives but also those of Yemen, Ethiopia and others. Who would have assumed then that they would turn against us?”Yes, the idea that former proxies might turn against their patron is shocking. About 2,400 Somali soldiers trained in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and the Soviets had a substantial advisory mission in Somalia. That said, I'm less than 100% convinced by the suggestion that Soviet training is particular important to the success of the Somali pirate venture.
Soviet training and assistance to Somalia dropped substantially after 1978, when the United States replaced the USSR as Somalia's patron. From 1978 until 1991, Somali military personnel participated in U.S. military exercises and trained in the United States, although the scale of the relationship was much smaller than that with the Soviet Union. While I don't doubt that some of the pirate lords and "capos" date from the Soviet period, I strongly suspect that you could find at least a few pirates with U.S. training. Moreover, Somali piracy (like piracy elsewhere) has complex, multifaceted causes. To the extent that U.S. or Soviet training matters, it's probably to identify an individual as an important player, rather than in the provision of a specific set of skills that are useful in piracy.
--Robert Farley
