MOSCOW, January 11 (RIA Novosti) – Dakar port authorities promised to provide food, water, medical help and access to electricity to the Russian trawler seized by Senegal last week, Russian diplomats said.
Russia will also push for the crew to be allowed to leave the Oleg Naidenov ship, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday.
Senegalese authorities allowed a medical team to examine the crew earlier on Saturday, a spokesman for Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency said.
Medics confirmed claims that two crew members and the ship’s captain were beaten, the spokesman said.
Earlier reports claimed the crew was subjected to physical abuse during the ship's seizure by Senegal border guards on January 4.
The Oleg Naidenov, which was brought to Dakar, faces a fine of up to $3 million on poaching allegations.
The crew was so far forced to stay on board despite their complaints about lack of food and water and refusal of medical help.
Russian officials said earlier that the ship was seized with excessive use of force and outside the territorial waters of Senegal in an act of "economic warfare."
The ship’s captain claimed the Oleg Naidenov – which was busted for poaching before – was not conducting any fishing at the time of seizure.
The ship’s owner pledged to sue in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea – whose ruling against Russia over its seizure of a Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship was, incidentally, rejected by official Moscow last fall.
