Today the open joint-stock company Archangelsk Trawl Fleet (ATF) and the law firm of EPAM, a legal adviser to the Russian Federal Ministry of Property Management, held a joint press-conference on the conflict around three trawlers owned by the Russian Federation and assigned to ATF – Kapitan Kononov, Yuosas Aleksonis, and Tralmester Mogutov – illegally retained in Mauritania.

The reason for the press-conference was the fact that the persons involved in misappropriation of the trawlers were declared subject to an investigation by INTEPOL. Another cause was a note of protest handed by the Russian Foreign Ministry to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mauritania referring to the Ruling of the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Mauritania of November 9, 2005 to dismiss the Decision of the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court of Mauritania to suspend “mauritanization” of the trawlers.

During the press-conference Yuri Nikulin, the CEO of ATF, and Daniil Petrov, senior lawyer of EPAM Law, described to the reporters attending the event, the history and the current status of the dispute around the Russian trawlers illegally retained in Mauritania.

Immediately after the press-conference the delegation of the lawyers of EPAM, representing the interest of the Russian Federation and ATF in the dispute, flew to Mauritania to participate in the court hearings.