Andronik Grigoryan, the ethnic Armenian chef on board a container ship, and whom pirates had kidnapped, has returned to Russia.

The respective statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that, according to the Russian embassy in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja, the container ship MSC MANDY’s Russian citizen crewmembers, whom pirates had kidnapped in the Gulf of Guinea on January 2, were released on January 20.

These seamen have returned to Russia, they are in satisfactory condition, and Moscow is grateful to those who have assisted in their release.

Pirates had attacked MSC MANDY, in Benin’s territorial waters in the Gulf of Guinea. There were 26 people—including Russian, Ukrainian, and Georgian citizens—on board this vessel. The pirates had kidnapped six seafarers, among them ethnic Armenian Andronik Grigoryan.