Russia to provide 3.2 bln rubles for construction of crab fishing vessels in Far East

MOSCOW. May 27 (Interfax) - The Russian government will allocate 3.2 billion rubles for the construction of fishing vessels at shipyards in the Far East Federal District, the Cabinet's press service reported.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced the additional subsidies at a meeting with deputy prime ministers on Monday.

"Due to sanctions, the construction of vessels is, let's say, behind schedule. Restrictions concern foremost western parts, equipment. In order to overcome these difficulties, the government will additionally direct more than 3 billion rubles. The subsidies will be provided to Russian organizations to reimburse a portion of expenditures on the construction of vessels at shipyards in the Far East Federal District," Mishustin said.

The funding will be channelled to fishing companies that secured shares of investment quotas to catch crab in commercial and coastal fishing in exchange for commitments to build crab fishing vessels, the government said.

"A total of thirteen such crab fishing vessels are supposed to come off the slipways in three years and these funds will help accelerate the launch for seven of them," Mishustin said.