Modern sea terrorism (piracy) and public safety

The article attempts to analyze modern maritime piracy as a form of terrorism. Maritime terrorism poses a serious threat to maritime security, violates the universally recognized principle of freedom of the seas and poses a threat to peace. Like piracy, it is a crime of international character. Maritime terrorism and piracy are very similar in methods and means. The only difference is in the objectives pursued by the perpetrators: for pirates, the main thing is enrichment and profiteering, while the goal of terrorists is to intimidate the authorities in order to meet their, as a rule, political demands.In modern times, such actions, in addition to the direct physical and material harm, have a psychological impact, as they undermine people's sense of security, provoking not only fear of traveling on water, but fear for their own condition and the condition of their loved ones. Despite the fact that the image of pirates is more associated with the times of great geographical discoveries, nowadays there are real pirates and sea terrorists who, possessing modern technologies, are even more dangerous for the state and people.