Russian Trawler Holding Norwegian Inspectors Reached Russian Waters

[Ryan Ruck]

Russian Trawler Holding Norwegian Inspectors Reached Russian Waters

A Russian trawler which took flight with two Norwegian inspectors on board after refusing to obey orders to halt, crossed into Russian waters and was on its way to the northern port of Murmansk, Russian fleet officials said.

The trawler Elektron, accompanied by the Russian anti-submarine frigate Admiral Levchenko which joined it at midnight, "crossed into Russian territorial waters at 0328 Moscow time (2328 GMT Tuesday) and are going to Murmansk along the border," the Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said as quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

"On the other side of the border, they are trailed by the Norwegian ships in constant communication with the Admiral Levchenko," Dygalo said, adding assurances that "the situation is under control and is not conflictual."

The Elektron took off with two Norwegian inspectors, who had stopped the vessel to investigate it for illegal fishing in the Barents Sea, on Saturday, and had been fleeing the Norwegian coast guard since then.

Norway claims full sovereignty of the waters in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic, where the Elektron was stopped, but Russia does not recognize that claim.

After the two inspectors boarded the Elektron it initially headed for Tromsoe in northern Norway on orders from the Norwegian authorities, but then changed its route on Sunday and has since refused to comply with Norwegian demands.

Russian and Norwegian officials said they expected a diplomatic solution to be found.

Norwegian and Russian authorities have been in contact several times over the issue and Oslo has stressed that there is no diplomatic tension between the two neighbours.

However, Russian industry observers said the incident could affect a bilateral fisheries commission meeting set to be held next week between Norway and Russia.

[Ryan Ruck]

Two Russian Vessels Arrested

While Russia and Norway began talks about fishing rights, conflicts continued - with two Russian vessels taken into custody in Svalbard's territorial waters. The fishing trawler "Kapitan Gorbachev" and the transport vessel "Dmitri Pokramovich" were stopped by the Norwegian coast guard after they were spotted reloading near Bjørnøya on Saturday.

"They have been carrying out illegal activities in Norwegian waters," Commander Steve Olsen of Regional Command North (LDKN) told newspaper VG's web site. "It is not certain that they have been fishing illegally but they have at least been reloading illegally," he said.

The trawler captain had not reported fishing to Norwegian authorities and neither ship had notified their intent to transfer cargo.

Both vessels were taken into arrest and were to be brought to Longyearbyen.

Last week the recurring conflict between fishing ships and Norway's attempts to police what it sees as its rights in the Barents region resulted in two Norwegian inspectors being driven off in an escaping Russian trawler after trying to make an arrest.

Russian authorities have implied that these high profile incidents regularly coincide with fishing rights talks between the two nations, while Norway has emphasized that the inspectors were trying to enforce agreed environmental regulations, not fishing claims.