YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, April 14. /TASS/. A 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kuril Islands in the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Sakhalin branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences told TASS.

"The quake occurred at 13:46 Sakhalin Time (05:46 Moscow Time) at 45.3 degrees north latitude and 150 degrees east longitude," a spokesperson said. The depth of the quake was 68 km and the epicenter was some 167 km to the east of Kurilsk on Iturup Island.

The 2-magnitude aftershocks could be felt in Kurilsk, according to the seismologists.