MURMANSK, July 10 (RIA Novosti, Yekaterina Kozlova) - Russian naval ships should constantly stay in the open ocean, the agriculture minister of Russia said Saturday. Alexei Gordeyev is making a working trip to the Murmansk Region (northwestern European Russia).
"The west frequently calls on us to liberalize and globalize. But we see any strong western country acting according to the principle: friendship is friendship but our interests differ," Gordeyev said in response to the question that in recent years Norwegian authorities had been presenting many claims to Russian ships fishing near the Spitsbergen archipelago.
Russian fishermen believe that most claims hold no grounds and say that Norwegians are trying to edge them out of Spitsbergen, a lucrative fishing area.
Gordeyev said Russia should safeguard its international rights.
