Russia releases Japanese fishing boat crew

Tokyo: Russian authorities on Saturday released all 10 Japanese crew members seized aboard a fishing boat in late January after allegedly straying into Russian waters, Japanese officials said.

The crew was cleared to leave in the afternoon and was making final preparations to depart the port of Nakhodka in far eastern Russia, said Tomonori Hasegawa, Japan's acting consul general in nearby Vladivostok.

The crab fishing boat No. 38 Yoshimaru was caught off the northern coast of the Noto peninsula on January 27. The Russian coast guard told Japanese officials that the boat was seized because it was operating illegally in an exclusive Russian economic zone.

The crew members remained on their vessel during the 11-day seizure and will head back to Japan's western prefecture of Tottori, Hasegawa said.