Posted on 08/15/2006 10:10:54 PM PDT by Marius3188
A Japanese fisherman is reported to have been shot dead by a Russian patrol boat, near a disputed island chain.
Japan's foreign ministry said that, if confirmed, the death was unacceptable.
It also demanded the release of three surviving men from the Japanese boat, who are thought to have been detained by the Russians on a nearby island.
Both Tokyo and Moscow lay claim to the four small islands, which Russia calls the southern Kurils and Japan the Northern Territories.
The ongoing dispute has prevented the two nations signing a peace treaty to formally end hostilities from WWII.
The islands were seized by the Soviet Union at the end of the war in 1945.
Russia has said it will hand over some of the islands to Japan, but Tokyo insists all four should be returned.
Rare shooting
According to Japanese press reports, the Russian patrol boat is said to have opened fire on the Japanese vessel and later taken it, along with its crew, to one of the disputed islands.
But the Russian coast guard insists the vessel defied several orders to stop, according to Kyodo news agency.
Fishing disputes are common in the area, and Russian border patrols often try to capture Japanese fishermen.
But the last time a Japanese citizen was shot dead by a Soviet vessel was nearly 50 years ago, Japanese officials told Reuters.
The Japanese should start sending fleets of fishing boats with Naval protection
re: Article 2C;
That means that they're both wrong, and that those islands are ours, right?
They didn't claim it. It was a fishing boat.
It would be like them showing up in the Bering Sea, and catching all of the King and Opelio crab. When they fish, they take everything that is there. The Japanese have the most destructive fishery in the world.
wow. that must be a big boat =o)
I am not an environmentalist, not by any stretch of the imagination. I do believe in sane management of fisheries. What the Japanese do to life in the ocean is deplorable. They strip it bare. They're like locusts. I don't blame the Russians for shooting one of them, and I don't like the Russians. (I still have a hard time calling them "Russians" instead of "Soviets").
They tick our fishermen off as they sneak into our waters and take it all.
I asked why not turn them in?
Because they sneak back over before anyone can get there.
Kinda like Mexicans, with boats.
Heh.
Hey I thought there was an internationl fishing agreement but the Japanese only pretend to be in accordance?
People will only obey the laws that they want to obey.
Until the shooting starts, of course. ;-)
Under Putin, they're still Soviets.
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