MOSCOW, May 12 (RIA Novosti) - Somali pirates...

In an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta, to be published on Wednesday, Alexander Zvyagintsev said that since Somali did not have an effective government "it is senseless" to hand pirates over to Somali authorities.

"Therefore, the entire responsibility for starting judicial proceedings rests with the state whose ship has seized these pirates," he said.

He said that pirates operating off Somalia are currently holding 17 ships and about 300 hostages.

Zvyagintsev added that in 2008, pirates received $120-150 million in ransom, which enabled them to buy more sophisticated facilities for attacking merchant ships.

President Dmitry Medvedev urged Russian prosecutors last Monday to discuss with their foreign colleagues the possibility of creating an international piracy court.

The appeal came as about 30 suspected pirates were being held on board a Russian warship after carrying out an unsuccessful hijack attempt on a Liberian-flagged and Russian-crewed

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