Russia says the sailor from a fishing boat suspected of poaching crab in the Pacific waters, which both Russia and Japan claim as part of their territory, could have been hit by a bullet inadvertently as the result of rough seas when a patrol boat fired warning shots after the ship had defied orders to stop on Wednesday.
"The forensic examination of the body of Mitsujiro Morita, a Japanese citizen, was completed today," prosecutors said.
Japan protested the death of the fisherman, which happened near the four Kuril Islands the country says are its "northern territories," and the seizure of the boat and the other crewmen and demanded their immediate release.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday that "Russia's refusal cooperate [on the release of the ship and crew] could affect further relations between our countries."
Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Yasunori Shiozaki is expected to arrive in Moscow later Friday to coordinate procedures to hand over and receive the body.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official also said Friday a ship with a delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Akiko Yamanaka had left Japan's northern island of Hokkaido for Kunashir, one of the Kurils claimed by Japan, where the body, the other crewmen, and the vessel are kept, at about 4:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. Moscow time, 7:30 a.m. GMT).
Mikhail Galuzin, minister counselor at the Russian Embassy in Japan who was summoned to the agriculture and fishery ministry Friday, said Japan had no grounds to demand an apology, compensation or punishment from Russia's coast guard after it seized the vessel and fatally wounded the sailor in the head.
Galuzin expressed condolences to the relatives of the dead seaman and called the incident "tragic," but said it was the result of an illegal border crossing.
Relations between Russia and Japan have long been strained over the Kurils. Japan maintains that their seizure by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II was illegal, and the dispute has until now kept the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty.
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.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it regretted the death of the fisherman, but added responsibility also rested with some representatives of the Japanese authorities for failing to address the poaching problem after Moscow had repeatedly highlighted it.
