A “bait” ship seems a workable alternative to arming regular cargo vessels but the legal ramifications include the proprietors of the bait ship being charged with entrapment and wrongful death, as most countries are signers of international agreements limiting the legal penalties for piracy to life imprisonment and not hanging from the yardarm, keelhauling, walking the plank, or other entertaining diversions.

The above does not preclude outfitting (with proper authority) a dedicated pirate pursuit vessel and crew or a military naval mission, although the latter experience has shown that no one is eager to assume the costs of prosecution or the costs of incarceration.

The Russian method seems to be cost effective and with no legal consequences as long as everybody involved keeps his mouth shut.

As long as the shipping companies keep paying ransoms it encourages exactly the wrong kind of behaviour. No matter what those civilian carriers use as their rationalizations.