Russia releases Lithuanian trawler after EU spat

(VILNIUS) - A Russian court has released a Lithuanian trawler whose seizure sparked a spat between Brussels and Moscow last year, the boat's owners said Monday.

The ship left the northern port of Murmansk off the Barents Sea after a local court imposed a four million ruble (53,000 euros, $58,000) fine, the Lithuania-based Arctic Fishing company said in a statement.

Russian border guards towed the vessel, the Juros Vilkas, in September, accusing it of illegally fishing for crabs.

Lithuania initially denied the claim, and the EU protested to Russia over "the forced apprehension", demanding the vessel's immediate release.

But the company said Monday that the boat had unknowingly entered Russia's exclusive economic zone, and pinned the blame on the regional fisheries body.

"The economic zone boundaries changed after Russia signed a bilateral fishing agreement with Norway. The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission failed to share this information with the countries concerned, including Lithuania," the company said.

Lithuania, a 2004 EU entrant, has had rocky ties with Moscow since it declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, and tensions have spiralled over Russia's intervention in Ukraine.

"I welcome it if it's the final decision," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told reporters, but refused to elaborate.