RUSSIA: Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhisa says Russia promised to release three remaining crew members of fishing boat seized after Russian patrol boat fired on their vessel and a Japanese fisherman died

Record ID: 464958

  • Title: RUSSIA: Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhisa says Russia promised to release three remaining crew members of fishing boat seized after Russian patrol boat fired on their vessel and a Japanese fisherman died
  • Date: 19th August 2006
  • Summary: (EU)MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 18, 2006) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT JAPANESE SENIOR VICE FOREIGN MINISTER YASUHISA SHIOZAKI AND OTHER DELEGATES ARRIVING AND ENTERING RUSSIA'S FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING; JAPANESE FLAG ON CAR; CAR WITH JAPANESE FLAG STANDING OUTSIDE RUSSIA'S FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING JAPANESE SENIOR VICE FOREIGN MINISTER YASUHISA SHIOZAKI COMING OUT AND WALKING TOWARDS PRESS; JOURNALIST LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) YASUHISA SHIOZAKI, JAPANESE SENIOR VICE FOREIGN MINISTER, SAYING: "The ship is not far from Kunashiri island, but it has technical problems and the weather bad. But the Russian Federation has promised to hand over the body tomorrow morning." WIDE OF SHIOZAKI ADDRESSING MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) YASUHISA SHIOZAKI, JAPANESE SENIOR VICE FOREIGN MINISTER, SAYING: "The Russian Federation will make maximum efforts to free the crew of the ship for humanitarian reasons." MEDIA HOLDING MICROPHONES; SHIOZAKI WALKING TOWARDS CAR/ GET IN CAR/ CAR DRIVES OFF
  • Embargoed: 3rd September 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAA5EEOA0YY0CUTVJKGTPD5SKMK
  • Story Text: Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhisa on Friday (August 18, 2006) said Russia promised to release the three remaining crew members of the fishing boat seized after a Russian patrol boat fired on their vessel and a Japanese fisherman died.
    Yasuhisa made the comments after meeting Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev in Moscow.
    "The Russian Federation will make maximum efforts to free the crew of the ship for humanitarian reasons,"he added.
    The fisherman was shot dead on Wednesday east of Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido. The incident is thought to be the first fatality for 50 years in a territorial dispute dating back to the end of World War Two.
    A foreign ministry official left Hokkaido on a Japan Coast Guard vessel on Friday to collect the body of 35-year-old fisherman Mitsuhiro Morita from Kunashiri, one of a group of four islands claimed by both countries and currently controlled by Russia.
    Yasuhisa said Russia had promised to hand over the body of the dead fisherman as soon as possible.
    "The ship is not far from Kunashiri island, but it has technical problems and the weather bad. But the Russian Federation has promised to hand over the body tomorrow morning," Yasuhisa said.
    A Russian prosecutor on the island of Sakhalin said that only the Japanese vessel's captain will be criminally charged over illegal fishing and violation of entering Russian waters, Kyodo news agency said.
    Japan and Russia have been locked in a dispute over the islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuriles in Russia, for decades.
    The simmering feud has prevented them from signing a peace treaty more than 60 years after the end of World War Two.
    The four islands, as close as 15 km (9 miles) from Hokkaido, were seized by the Soviet Union in the waning days of World War Two, forcing about 17,000 Japanese residents to flee.
    Russia has said it is willing to hand over two islands, but Japan insists that all four must be returned.
    Fishing disputes are common in the area, and Russian border patrols often try to capture Japanese fishermen. But the last time a Japanese fisherman was shot dead was in October 1956, by a Soviet vessel, Japanese officials said.
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