[1] The captain then ordered that all food and water be hidden in the steering compartment, and activated the ship's distress beacon, after which he and the crew barricaded themselves in the engine room, where they repulsed two attempts by the pirates to force their way in.

[2] A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion responded to the MV Moscow University distress signal on the 5 May, and was able to locate the tanker, dead in the water, with three small skiffs alongside - indicating a Somali pirate hijacking.

Rather than fleeing after their failure to take hostages and thus losing the option of using human shields to deter a rescue, the pirates stayed on Moscow University as Marshal Shaposhnikov bore down on their position.

[3] Many pirates in Somalia believed that the Russian Navy had carried out extrajudicial executions of their compatriots aboard the Moscow University, and they were dead before they were set adrift.

[4] The Somalian government expressed dismay that the Russian Navy had not transferred the piracy suspects to Mogadishu for prosecution, and demanded a formal apology from Moscow for violating the human rights of its nationals.