The crew of 17 Ukrainians, two Russians and one Latvian were met at the airport by family members and Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko. The Russian sailors are set to leave for St. Petersburg later in the day.
The sailors were given "strict orders not to say anything to anyone" upon arrival. When one crewmember was asked how the pirates had treated him, he said "I don't want to talk about it."
The Faina was hijacked off the Horn of Africa on September 25, 2008, and released on February 5 after the pirates received a $3.2 million ransom.
The pirates had initially demanded a $35 million ransom for the vessel, which was carrying 33 T-72 tanks and other heavy weaponry to be delivered to Kenya.
The body of the Faina's Russian captain, Vladimir Kolobov, who died of a heart attack soon after the hijackers seized the ship, is still in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The body will be sent to St. Petersburg once an autopsy has been performed and a death certificate issued.
According to the UN, Somali pirates carried out at least 120 attacks on ships in 2008, resulting in combined ransom payouts of around $150 million.
Around 20 warships from the navies of at least 10 countries, including Russia, are involved in anti-piracy operations off Somalia. The East African country, ravaged by years of civil war, has no functioning government.
