"If it is confirmed that the captain of the Ukrainian craft really raised Russian colors, the case will be seriously investigated," a source in Russia's Foreign Ministry told RIA Novosti.
The source stressed, "a respective address will doubtless be sent to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry." Shalva Londaridze, the head of the press center of Georgia's State Border Guard State Department, told RIA Novosti the Georgian border guards detained the Ukrainian seiner Trepang flying the Russian flag in Georgian waters. The vessel was detained for illegally fishing.
An aide to the commander-in-chief of Russia's Navy, Captain 1st Rank Igor Dygalo, told RIA Novosti on Friday, "the Trepang seiner raised Russian colors when a Georgian border guard boat approached it, and tried to escape into the neutral waters." Capt. Dygalo said, "after the inspection group boarded the Trepang it turned out that the seiner was Ukrainian and was registered in Kerch." "The actions of the captain and the crew who tried to use the Russian colors as a cover in order to avoid responsibility are incomprehensible," Capt. Dygalo stressed.
