This is Russian warship, you need to leave the area”, was the message chief mate Øystein Orten got over the radio as his crew was about to take the fishing gear up from the water.
It was news online FriFagbevegelse that first talked with the crew of the fishing boat Ragnhild Kristine about the scary confrontation with the Russian navy in the Barents Sea.
The incident happened on September 12th in the maritime border areas north of the Varanger Peninsula. Outside territorial waters, but in Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Here, Russia’s Northern Fleet had pre-annonced live shootings as part of the large-scale strategic exercise Ocean-2024.
But the military exercise and the order to sail away didn’t at first scare the Norwegians. “I replied that it was out of question for us to move. We had longlines to take onboard,” Orten told to FriFagbevegelse. […]
“Norwegian authorities must put pressure on Russia so that they stop sabotaging Norwegian fisheries and shipping,” says Øystein Orten in the interview with FriFagbevegelse.
“Ideally, the Russians can place the firing range further north, east and in their own area. They should not be allowed to close Norwegian fishing areas,” Orten says. Läs artikel