Why has it taken so long for the Russian ship to arrive? Maybe because a)MV Faina isn't Russian and b)it is quite some distance from any Russian port. As far as I am aware none of the equipment on the ship belongs to Russia. The reason for the USA to wait has nothing to do with the origin of the equipment on board but rather simple prudence. Instigating a firefight that is almost certain to cost the lives of many if not all the crew members of the MV Faina where one might not be necessary would be astonishingly stupid. At present the order of the day is containment while negotiations are carried out to secure a peaceful outcome. In any case if the ship were to be boarded it would be done by special operations units who would have been very unlikely to have been aboard the American vessel when the crisis arose. They would need to have been mobilized and transported to the region before any such operation would even be considered.