“Elektron” captain to become Head of Shtokman town?
Former captain of the trawler ”Elektron” Valery Yarantsev came on second place in Sunday’s elections to post as Mayor of Teriberka in Murmansk Oblast. None of the candidates received the necessary 50 percent to be elected, and a second round will be held in two weeks. Teriberka is planned to house the Shtokman project LNG plant.
Yarantsev is a member of the Communist Party, but stood for election as an independent candidate. He received 20 percent of the votes, while Yekaterina Matrekhina from the party United Russia won the round with 30 percent of the votes. These two will take part in the second voting round, which is expected to be held in two weeks, Murman.ru reports.
As captain of the trawler “Elektron”, Valery Yarantsev was involved in one of the most dramatic events in the history of the Norwegian Coast Guard. In October 2005 a Norwegian Coast Guard vessel caught the trawler in illegal fishing in a protected part of the Barents Sea. The captain refused to be subjected to arrest and took two Norwegian fisheries inspectors hostage and headed for Russian Economic Zone.
Yarantsev was charged for kidnapping and illegal fishing by the Russian State Prosecutor in April 2006. One year later the Murmansk court acquitted him of the charges on kidnapping, but gave him a 100.000 RUB fine for illegal fishing.
The village of Teriberka is the site chosen for the Shtokman gas processing facilities. It has about 1400 inhabitants and is located on the coast of the Barents Sea about 100 km north-east of the city of Murmansk.
A selection of Norwegian and Russian newspaper articles about the events in October 2005 can be found at BarentsObserver.com
