No charges against border guards in fatal Japan ship incident

No criminal case will be opened against Russian border guards who detained a Japanese vessel in a fatal incident almost two weeks ago, the chief military prosecutor’s office said Monday.

A row broke out August 16 between Moscow and Tokyo after the border guards shot dead a Japanese crewmember on the vessel near the Kuril Islands. Russian officials said the vessel was suspected of illegally fishing for valuable crab in Russian territorial waters and that border guards had fired warning shots only after it refused to stop.