Sunday, January 31, 2010 TOKYO: Japan has lodged a formal protest with Russia after two of its fishing vessels were shot at by the Russian Coast Guard near four disputed islands. Japan's foreign ministry says the ships were fishing in an area agreed on by the two countries when the flares were fired at them. Japan's Kyodo news agency says the two vessels appear to have 20 bullet marks on their hulls. Russia's newswire reports the boats were shot with flares from a helicopter because they were suspected of operating illegally in Russia's exclusive economic zone near the islands. It says the two boats were shot at near Kunashir Island after they refused to stop. The two countries have a decades-old dispute over the chain of Pacific islands, known as the Northern Territories in Japan and the Southern Kuril Islands in Russia.
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