Strict Restrictions for Sakhalin Island

The Russian Government Authority has begun restricting people coming from or leaving Sakhalin Island from last month. It appears to be related to the murder of Yakut Mafia boss, Vasily Naumov. He was murdered in Busan last month due of an argument with another Mafia member regarding marine contraband products.

The Russian Government Authority is attempting to keep criminal syndicates from entering the island, relating to illegal marine products such as king crabs. The murder uncovered information that the amount of contraband marine products going between Sakhalin and Japan has reached almost 1.3 billion dollars annually. Realizing the seriousness of the matter, the Russian Government Authority has taken strong measures, albeit a little late.

Foreigners and Russians now have to gain special permission from border guards and the police to leave the main island of Yuzhno Sakhalinsk. Foreign companies, however, in Russia for oil and gas exploration have complained that their “foreign engineers and Russian laborers from the mainland cannot even get to work.” There are currently about 400 companies from the U.S. alone in Sakhalin.

“One foreign engineer with a house downtown and work place out of town has to get permission whenever he commutes. It takes 3 days at the earliest to get permission,” reported the Moscow Daily Times. An engineer from Canada complained that “they don`t give visa extensions on the spot. We go to Korea or Japan every 3 months.”

Ki-Hyun Kim kimkihy@donga.com