Stranded Russians Ship Out at Long Last : Gifts: Rotary Club leaders help sailors buy plane tickets back to Murmansk in time for Russian Orthodox Christmas, Jan. 7.

After being adrift in red tape for eight months, Capt. Nikolai Finogenov will finally be home for Christmas.

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Not the one being celebrated today at Long Beach Harbor, where his broken-down boat is marooned. But the one Jan. 7--when the Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated.

Finogenov and four other stranded Russian sailors will be flying home to Murmansk by the middle of next week, thanks to $3,700 donated Friday by Rotary Club leaders in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

“ Spasibo (Thanks),” a grateful Finogenov said as club officials paid a Christmas Eve visit to the ship.

The mariners are the last of two dozen crew members who were aboard the seagoing tug boat Gigant when it was towed to the harbor in April. Although other crewmen returned home in July, they stayed with the rusty, 225-foot vessel to await repairs.

But confusion over visas for mechanics sent from Russia to fix the 20-year-old tug’s engine delayed the repair work. And for the last three months, U.S. officials have confined Finogenov and his shipmates to their boat and a nearby dock.

“This has not been the best of situations,” said Finogenov, 45. “We expected to go home. We just didn’t know when it would be.”

The Gigant’s strange voyage began a year ago, when it left the northern coast of Russia, near Finland, bound for the United States. In San Francisco, the tug picked up two World War II-era troop ships, intending to tow them across the Pacific Ocean to be scrapped in China.

But Gigant--which means “giant” in Russian--developed giant-size engine problems a few days out of San Francisco. Midway across the Pacific, Finogenov turned over the scrap ships to another tug boat and limped toward Hawaii for repairs.

Another Russian tug towed the stricken boat to Los Angeles on April 22. For more than a month, the ship bobbed at anchor outside the harbor.

Its 24 sailors were running out of food and water by Memorial Day, when pleasure boaters noticed them and invited them ashore for a barbecue.

Publicity about their plight prompted donations of food, generator fuel and other supplies while the Russians waited for the repairs. The ship’s owners, a Russian company called Sevrybholotflot, estimated the work would cost $300,000.

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In midsummer, a relief crew was dispatched to Los Angeles by way of Mexico. In Mexico City, however, the crew learned it lacked visas needed to continue to the United States. When their company learned it would take three weeks to get the papers, it ordered the men home.

A second repair crew apparently made it as far as Los Angeles International Airport before being turned back because of problems with travel documents.

In July, the boat was towed into Long Beach Harbor and allowed to tie up at a container shipping company’s dock. In August, the Immigration and Naturalization Service--which had twice extended visas for the Gigant’s crew--ordered the sailors to stay on their ship.

Sympathetic Long Beach police tried to help the stranded sailors by soliciting donations and working to expedite the repairs.

At summer’s end, Police Sgt. Jim Sutton was among several people who chipped in to buy plane tickets home for two sailors.

When Sutton learned that the INS was threatening proceedings that could have led to even more restrictive confinement of the remaining five sailors, he helped launch a campaign to raise air fare for them as well.

Rotary leader Tony Kriss of Torrance learned of Sutton’s efforts Tuesday, when someone mentioned the stranded sailors. By Christmas Eve, he had commitments of cash from other club members in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

“They’re fellow human beings who need help,” Kriss said of the Russians. “They’re caught in the middle. It’s a terrible plight.”

Orange County club leader Michael Darnold of San Juan Capistrano added: “It’s part of the giving that we associate with Christmas.”

Finogenov was cautious about stepping off the fenced-in dock to accept the checks. “We cannot come out without permission of the Immigration Service,” he said.

And perhaps confused by the reference to today’s Christmas, Finogenov was cautious about associating his plight with the holiday.

“I feel my position here and the position of the crew is, it doesn’t have anything to do with the Christmas season,” he said as the puzzled Rotarians listened.

But they grinned when Finogenov explained what he meant. “This is an expression of good will,” the Russian said.