"Whaling Prison" angers Putin .. Russian authorities intervene

Russian authorities have ordered the release of about 100 whales trapped in cages in Russia's far east, in a case that angered President Vladimir Putin, Russian media reported on Saturday.
Images of whales appeared in narrow containers in a bay near the Japanese port of Nakhodka the first time last year, sparking a wave of criticism in the country.

The Russian authorities plan to return the whales to the water, having been detained in harsh conditions with the aim of selling them to Chinese buyers, as quoted by "Tass" Russian news agency.

But the problem is how to release the whales without harming them, causing their water to be delayed and the animals kept in pens, which the Russian media called the "whaling prison".

 Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) accused four companies on Monday of violating fishing laws, the Russian news agency TASS reported.

"The animals have remained in unsatisfactory conditions and must be returned to their natural habitat," the agency quoted a Federal Security Service official as saying.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that Putin was "personally" involved in dealing with the matter.

"We are doing our best," Russian Environment Minister Dmitry Kopelkin was quoted by TASS news agency as saying on Thursday.

More than 900,000 signatures were signed online for whaling, with actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Pamela Anderson also sent an open letter to Putin via her Web site on the same issue.