VLADIVOSTOK, August 22 (RIA Novosti) – Border guards from Russia’s Far Eastern territory of Kamchatka detained a Japanese whaling vessel in the Sea of Okhotsk and delivered it to the port of Magadan for further investigation, a representative for the Border Guard Service of Russia’s Federal Security Service in Magadan Region told RIA Novosti Friday.
“Kamchatka’s border guards have detained a vessel on suspicion of border violation. It’s been in Magadan for a few days, the inquiry is ongoing,” the representative said, without elaborating on how long the investigation could take.
The “Shonan Maru 2” whaling ship has been observing whales in the Sea of Okhotsk, Kyodo News reported Friday. The vessel was supposed to operate in Russia’s exclusive economic zone, where surface waters are international but the subsurface belongs to Russia, but the vessel deviated from its course, entering Russian territorial waters, according to Russian authorities.
The ship was detained due to a failure by the Japanese to notify Russia that the ship was changing its area of observation, Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery claimed Friday.
