MADRID, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Embassy in Spain is ready to help the owners of a Russian ship stuck at a port in Spain obtain visas to travel to the country and resolve the issue, a Russian charge d'affaires said Monday.
The Vladimir Sharanda has been harbored at Pontevedra in northwest Spain since May 9, due to delays in payments of sailors' wages and port fees, as well as a fuel shortage.
Andrei Shvedov, responding to media reports that representatives of the Frakht shipping company were unable to enter Spain because of visa problems, said: "The ship owner has not yet contacted the embassy with a request to issue visas to Spain."
"If he [the owner] has any problems in obtaining a Spanish visa, then we are ready to help. These are issues that we deal with almost every day with the Spanish Consulate in Moscow," he said.
The main cause of the problem is that the sailors "want to receive the money they have earned, and a part of the crew wants to return to Russia," Shvedov said.
"Now everything depends on the ship owner. Only he can pay the money. We hope that Frakht's pledge to send a representative to pay the sailors, pay the port fees, and repatriate the sailors will be fulfilled in the next few days," he said.
Irrespective of the company's business issues, "An employer must pay his staff, and then resolve his problems with partners," Shvedov said.
After delivering a cargo of frozen fish at Pontevedra on May 9, the Vladimir Sharanda had insufficient fuel to continue its route and remained near the port. The ship docked at the port at the demand of the Spanish authorities.
Shvedov said that in March, a similar situation arose in Spain with another Russian ship, the Greenland. "The Russian sailors found themselves in much the same situation."
He said that if the company does not resolve the issue soon, means of sending the sailors home will have to be found, and the issue of salaries could then be resolved in Russian law courts.
