British Protest On Vladivostok

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28386, 19 September 1957, Page 13

British Protest On Vladivostok

(Rec. 9 n.m.) LONDON, Sept. 17. The British Government has protested to the Soviet Union against its action in prohibiting foreign shipping from using, or foreign aircraft from flying over a ‘large area in Vladivostok Bay. the diplomatic correspondent of “The Times” reported. The Soviet decision, announced on July 21. indicated that an area from the Korean border eastwards to Cape Povorotini was within its territorial waters, and that foreign ships, except those entering or leaving the port of Nakhodka, and foreign aircraft, required official permission for movement. In British opinion, the Russian action is a substantial encroachment on the high seas, “The Times” said. The United Nations International Law Commission, of which Russia is a member, recently decided that a 15-mile line from one shore to the other should be used to demarcate an inlet from the sea. If the distance was more than 15 miles, the three-mile coastal strip for territorial waters should be used. The area of the Bay of Vladivostok closed -by the Russians is more than 120 miles across.

The Russians, according to Japanese investigators, have recently installed two guided missile bases overlooking the bay at Kraskino and Slavyanka.