On August 16, Russian border guards shot dead a 35-year-old on board while attempting to stop a ship suspected of poaching in Russia's territorial waters. The vessel's captain is now awaiting trial on poaching charges, but the other crewmembers have been released.
In a release received by RIA Novosti Tuesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said it called on Russia to adopt the utmost caution to avoid any repetition of the incident.
On August 27, 39 Japanese boats entered Russian waters and remained there for an hour until a Russian patrol boat arrived. Russia protested to the Japanese authorities over the incident.
However, Mikhail Kamynin, the Foreign Ministry's official spokesman, later said the boats had acted in accordance with a 1981 agreement between Japan and the Soviet Union on seaweed harvesting.
The spokesman said: "We consider the issue closed, but the question of illegal fishing by Japanese boats remains. We continue to call on Tokyo to take all necessary measures to prevent illegal fishing by Japanese vessels in Russian waters in the future."
Japan answered that it was giving due instructions to trawlers in the area.
Relations between Russia and Japan have long been strained over the Kuril Islands. Japan maintains their seizure by the Soviet Union of four islands at the end of World War II was illegal, and the dispute has kept the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty.
