MURMANSK/HELSINKI, October 28 (RIA Novosti) - Reports that the Dmitry Pokramovich trawler detained in Norwegian arctic waters is to be released Friday are incorrect, the general director of the company that owns ship said Friday.
The company is considering paying a bail fee for the ship to be released, but not the fine demanded by the Nowegian authorities, which it does not deem legal, Vladimir Zagorovsky said.
Deputy Governor of Spitsbergen, Rune Bard Hansen, said the ships would not be released until the owners pay a bail fee or fine. The owners of the Dmitry Pokramovich and the Kapitan Gorbachev are required to pay $197 million and $142 million respectively. If the sum is paid as a fine, the affair will be closed, and if as bail, the funds will be held as a guarantee pending a court case in mid-December. If the court were to rule against the ship owners, the sum would then be used as a fine.
Progress is being made in talks, but results have yet to be achieved, Hansen said.
Russian Ambassador to Norway Alexei Shadsky said: "In the end, the affair has turned into an ordinary economic spat."
The ships, arrested off Medvezhy Island in the Barents Sea, are accused of unauthorized fish reloading.
