1.
LV & MV Russian ship into port with Coast guards lining deck (7 shots)
0.26

2.
SV Men on deck
0.27

3.
SCU Coast Guard Captain on bridge
0.30

4.
LV Ship docking
0.34

5.
LV Daylight Russian ship (2 shots)
0.42

6.
SV Men on deck watch as Master of Soviet fleet taken ashore (2 shots)
0.48

7.
CU Cameramen
0.50

8.
CU (STILLS) Russian Captain (2 shots)
0.58

9.
LV & SV Soviet ships & crew members with armed Coast Guards (3 shots)
1.04

10.
SV Russian women on ship
1.07

11.
GV Soviet ships
1.10



Initials SGM/2349 SGM/2359


orig on 1110/72
T'RECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Two Soviet fishing vessels arrived in Adak, Alaska, on Saturday (22 January) under a United States Coast Guard escort after a dispute over infringing territorial waters.

The Soviet ships Lamut and Kolyvan were escorted from St Matthews Island, about 600 miles (1,000 kms) away from the port. The Commander of the Lamut, Igor Babtuk, and the Commander of the 80-vessel Russian fishing fleet, Vladimir Artemov, were later being held aboard a Coast Guard ship, while the Russian crews were under custody on their own vessels.

The Coast Guard took the two Soviet ships into custody last week after they were allegedly found inside the United States 12-mile (19-km) limit. The Lamut, with 10 U.S. Coast Guards aboard, is reported to have attempted to escape, but is said to have surrendered after a two-hour chase when a Coast Guard Commander warned he would fire. There was no indication how long the Soviet ships would remain at the U.S. Naval installation on the Aleutian island.

SYNOPSIS: Two Soviet fishing ships with an estimated 300 men and women abroad arrived in the Aleutian Island harbour of Adak on Saturday under a United States Coast Guard escort. Two Soviet officers were under arrest aboard the nearby United States Coast Guard icebreaker Storis, which had escorted the ships from St Matthews Island in the Bering Sea, after they had been seized last Monday for allegedly violating United States fishing waters.

The two Russian officers, Captain Igor Babtuk of the fishery flagship Lamut, and Vladimir Artemov, Commander of an 80-vessel Soviet fishing fleet, were expected to be taken east to Anchorage after formal pleas have been filed. The crews of the two Soviet ships are being under guard in their quarters until a charge decision has been made.

The United States Government has charged that one of the ships transferred its catch to a factory ship. International agreements, backed by Federal law, prescribe certain zones in which fishing vessels can carry on support activities -- such as transferring catches. One of the Soviet vessels is reported to have attempted to escape, with 10 Coast Guards on board. It stopped when sortie vessels threatened to fire across its bows.