Russia releases Japanese fishing boat crew

[Coventina]

Source: Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Russian authorities on Saturday released all 10 Japanese crew members seized aboard a fishing boat in late January after allegedly straying into Russian waters, Japanese officials said.

The crew was cleared to leave in the afternoon and was making final preparations to depart the port of Nakhodka in far eastern Russia, said Tomonori Hasegawa, Japan's acting consul general in nearby Vladivostok.

The crab fishing boat No. 38 Yoshimaru was caught off the northern coast of the Noto peninsula on Jan. 27. The Russian coast guard told Japanese officials that the boat was seized because it was operating illegally in an exclusive Russian economic zone.

Seizures of Japanese fishing boats by Russian authorities in disputed waters between Japan's northern island of Hokkaido and the Russian-held Kurils are not uncommon, although the latest incident occurred in waters several hundred miles (kilometers) away.



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[ZombieHorde]

1. Countries do get pissy about that sort of thing, I am glad no one was hurt. nt