A Russian border guard official who was severely burned in an attack on his home in Sakhalin was to undergo a skin graft Tuesday in Sapporo, hospital officials said.
Vitalii Gamov, 39, and his wife Larissa, 38, were severely burned when a firebomb was thrown into their home in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk last Tuesday.
Doctors decided to carry out the skin graft after noting an improvement in the man's condition, the officials said Monday, adding that the operation was expected to start in the morning.
Gamov was in charge of fighting illegal fishing around disputed islands off Hokkaido, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and in Russia as the Southern Kurils, and worked in cooperation with Japanese security authorities. Japan claims the Russian-held islands.
Larissa Gamov was earlier transferred from Sapporo to a hospital in Tokyo and underwent her first skin graft Thursday.
According to doctors, she is in a favorable condition and a second skin graft is being considered.