ST. PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th June, 2019) Release of orcas and white whales from the so-called whale prison in the Russian Far East could start within 10 days, the head of the Russian Federal Agency for Fishery, Ilya Shestakov, told Sputnik on Friday.
"The releases will start before the end of summer. We are working on it. Perhaps, the earliest releases will start within the next 10 days. We'll see what happens next, but the program is currently expected to cover the period until September," Shestakov said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
The so-called whale jail in Russia's Srednyaya Bay made headlines in the fall after Greenpeace reported that preparations for selling 13 orcas � which are on the Red List of Threatened Species � to China were underway, while 15 orcas had already been sold to China. A probe has been launched into the illegal fishing of aquatic animals and animal abuse. Russian President Vladimir Putin charged relevant agencies in February to determine the fate of the animals and verify whether they had been caught and kept in captivity legally.
SPIEF is an annual business event that has been held in St. Petersburg since 1997. It started on Thursday and is due to last three days. Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency is an official media partner of the forum.
