Russia releases detained Chinese fishermen

Russian authorities said 65 Chinese fishermen detained off Russia's Far East region have been released and are scheduled to leave for home on Aug 8.

The captains of each of the four detained vessels are still being held, China News Service reported.

The Chinese consulate in Vladivostok has delivered to the fishermen the Russian visas they need to leave.

Two Chinese fishing ships, both from Weihai in China's Shandong province, were detained off eastern Russia in mid-July.

A Russian coast guard vessel, the Dzerzhinsky, fired warning shots and then opened targeted fire to stop one of the Chinese ships, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Russia's Primorsky region said the two ships were seized because they entered Russia's exclusive economic zone.

One of the vessels had 17 fishermen while the other had 19, the Chinese consulate in Vladivostok said.

Russia seized two other Chinese fishing boats on July 25, also because of alleged illegal fishing operations.

Beijing and Moscow have reached a two-point consensus on the fishery issue, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters on July 30.

Diplomats of the two countries were said to be cooperating closely to arrange for the detained Chinese fishermen to return home.

China and Russia will hold future consultations on fishery cooperation, and both sides will set up a security cooperation mechanism on maritime law enforcement in order to prevent illegal fishing from happening again, Hong said.