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Moscow, Dakar confident that conflict around detained Russian trawler will be settled soon

MOSCOW, January 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow and Dakar are sure that the conflict around Russia’s Oleg Naidenov fishing trawler, which has been kept under arrest in Dakar since Sunday, will be settled soon, a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday after a meeting between the Russian ambassador in Dakar and the Senegalese foreign minister.

“The two diplomats expressed confidence that the conflict around the detention of the Russian Oleg Naidenov trawler and its crew would be settled very soon in the spirit of the traditionally friendly Russian-Senegalese relations,” the spokesman said. “Russian diplomats jointly with representatives from the Russian fisheries agency in Dakar continue efforts to ensure the observance of legal rights and interests of our fellow countrymen - members of the Oleg Naidenov crew.”

The Oleg Naidenov suspected of illegal fishing within Senegalese waters was seized by the Senegalese military 46 miles of Guinea-Bissau on January 4 with 82 crew onboard, including 62 Russians and 20 citizens of Guinea-Bissau, and convoyed to the port of Dakar on January 5. During the seizure several sailors were injured.

The Oleg Naidenov is owned by private company Fenix, registered in Murmansk, the extreme northwest part of Russia. It is a big fishing boat of Moonzund type, 120 meters long, built in Germany in 1989.

The crew remains on board the vessel under control of the Senegalese law enforcers. Sailors’ passports were confiscated soon after the arrest and the crew was not allowed to leave the trawler.