MOSCOW, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Two Norwegian coast guard officials were stranded aboard a Russian vessel suspected of fishing illegally which then ignored orders and sailed to international waters.
The two countries are engaged in a standoff over fishing rights in Arctic waters after the Elektron, a Murmansk-based trawler, sailed away with the two officials after it was boarded as part of a routine inspection near Norway's Spitsbergen islands. Norway said the vessel was using illegal nets. It was being escorted to a Norwegian port for prosecution when it swerved off course and sailed away. It is now in international waters, some 180 miles from Russian territory, being chased by four armed vessels from Norway's coast guard.
Russia has, however, said it will escort the vessel to Murmansk.
"For all practical purposes, the Russian trawler is under arrest but it is not complying with the orders," said Col. John Espen Lien, spokesman for the northern command of the Norwegian military, according to the Financial Times.
The demilitarized Spitsbergen belongs to Norway, which has set up a regulated protection zone around the island to prevent illegal fishing. Russia, which operates a coalmining colony on the island, does not recognize it.
