TOKYO/MOSCOW, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - A row broke out Wednesday between Moscow and Tokyo after Russia shot dead a Japanese crewmember of a fishing vessel allegedly poaching in Russian territorial waters.
Japan said a Russian patrol boat opened fire on the Japanese vessel at about 2:25 a.m. Moscow time (10:25 p.m. GMT) Wednesday, killing one man aboard. Russian officials said the vessel was suspected of illegally fishing for valuable crab in Russian territorial waters, and that border guards fired warning shots only after it refused to stop.
"This deplorable incident took place in Russian territorial waters and was provoked by an obvious poaching mission by the Japanese vessel," a Russian embassy official in Tokyo said. Deputy Ambassador Mikhail Galuzin was summoned to the Japanese Foreign Ministry for explanations and protests.
Crab fishing in the area, which is administered by Russia but claimed by Japan, is illegal, although it is unclear whether the vessel was fishing at the time of the incident.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso told reporters that he would personally speak to his Russian counterpart by telephone to protest.
"This is an extraordinary incident given our position on the territorial dispute between Japan and Russia," a Japanese foreign ministry official said earlier. "It led to the death of a crew member, which is absolutely unacceptable."
Relations between Russia and Japan have long been strained over the Kuril Islands. Japan maintains that their seizure by the Soviet Union at the end of WWII was illegal, and the dispute has until now kept the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty.
The Russian coast guard in the Far East confirmed that warning shots were fired at the Kisshin maru 31, but said the ship could have been hit inadvertently as the result of rough seas.
"After seizing the boat, a group of border guards found four fishermen, [including] the body of one man aboard," a Russian official said, adding that the vessel had been towed to the nearby Kunashiri island.
Russian military prosecutors have launched an investigation into the shooting and the illegal border crossing.
"An investigation of the Japanese captain is also being conducted regarding the illegal crossing of the Russian border," said Tatyana Kutuzova, an aide to the regional prosecutor on the island of Sakhalin.
Kutuzova said the Japanese vessel had entered Russian waters without identification markings, and that 30 kilograms of crab and 10 kilos of octopus was found on board. Earlier, Russian reports said the crewmen had been throwing the catch overboard as they fled the coastal patrol.
It is the third such incident for the Kisshin maru 31. It was involved in incidents with Russian coast guard in 1988 and 1994.
A total of 30 fishing boats and 210 Japanese crewmembers were seized by Russia in the disputed waters between 1994 and 2005. Seven fishermen were injured when Russian patrolmen fired on them.
