The Russian Embassy in Dakar has asked the Foreign Ministry of Senegal to provide explanations for the countrys militarys treatment of the Russian fishing vessel, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement earlier today due to the recent detention of the Oleg Naydenov trawler by the Senegalese authorities. The Russian Foreign Ministry further said that Russian diplomats and the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency officials in Dakar have been making joint moves to ensure a speedy release of the ship so she could set sail and leave Senegal. Illegal fishing, mostly by trawlers from the former Soviet bloc, costs Senegal 120 billion CFA francs ($250 million) a year, according to official Senegalese figures. "The Russian embassy sought explanations from the Senegalese Foreign Ministry over the military actions towards a Russian fishing vessel," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_...al-over-seized-trawler-Foreign-Ministry-4988/
Russian diplomats cannot confirm the rumor that Senegal’s parliament has decided to release the Russian-flagged trawler Oleg Naydenov, RIA Novosti reported Friday. “We have not had any confirmation of this. It may come through any minute, but so far we have not heard anything,” the agency quoted Minister Counselor Oleg Sergeyev as having said. He said the embassy was in direct communication with the Russian Federal Fishery Agency, which has not confirmed the allegations about the parliament’s decision either. “We ask the agency for information first of all and it has had no word on this issue so far,” Sergeyev said. Senegal’s parliament discussed the issue of the Russian trawler on Thursday. The Senegalese Navy detained the vessel, suspected of illegal fishing in Senegalese waters, on January 4 some 46 miles off the coast of Guinea Bissau and convoyed it to Dakar. http://rapsinews.com/news/20140117/270469787.html
