This is the moment a Russian anti-submarine crew board a container ship and fend of an incoming attack from a group of pirates near the western coast of Africa.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the crew of the “Vice-Admiral Kulakov” anti-submarine ship prevented pirates from seizing a Panamanian cargo ship in the Gulf of Guinea yesterday evening, 25th October.

The crew from the Northern Fleet onboard the Vice-Admiral Kulakov received a distress signal from the container ship ‘Lucia’ flying the flag of Panama whilst it was en route from Togo to Cameroon.

The Vice-Admiral Kulakov is an Udaloy-class destroyer that was named after the Soviet naval officer Nikolai Kulakov.

The ship was built during the Soviet era and first launched in 1980 and comes equipped with two ‘4 SS-N-14’ anti-submarine/ship missiles and several other anti-submarine torpedos and missiles.

The Ministry said in the statement that was published today, 26th October, that that the crew responded by ordering the civilian crew to take cover in the engine room whilst soldiers made their way to the ‘Lucia’.

As seen in the footage the container ship was being threatened by masked men in small speed boats that pulled up alongside.

Marines on board the Vice-Admiral Kulakov boarded a Ka-27PS helicopter in full combat gear and took off towards the Lucia.

The Ka-27PS is a Soviet-era military helicopter that currently serves in several militaries across the planet including Ukraine, Vietnam, China and South Korea. It is primarily used for ferrying troops and anti-submarine operations.

The troops dropped from the chopper, boarded the container ship and got ready to secure the deck of the ship.

The marines can be seen carefully passing through the ship checking for suspected pirates as they made their way to the crew held up in the engine room.

The Ministry said that the moment the suspected pirates saw the marines arriving in the chopper they fired up the engines on their speed boats and fled.

An anti-terror group was then sent in by the Russian navy to complete checking the ship and free the crew.

The Russian did not state whether any members of the crew were injured or if any of the suspected pirates made it on board the ship.

It is not clear if the Russian military plans to carry out an investigation into the incident or track the speed boats.