Russian authorities have confirmed the activists who tried to board an offshore drilling platform in the Barents Sea are to be charged with piracy.
The 30 Greenpeace activists could face up to 15 years in jail and a fine of 500,000 roubles.
Their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, arrived under tow into the fjord near Murmansk early this morning, accompanied by a tug boat and a Russian coastguard vessel.
However, Greenpeace said today that no formal charges had yet been made against any of the crew of its Arctic Sunrise icebreaker ship.
Russian forces stormed the boat last Thursday, after two activists – Finnish campaigner Sini Saarela and Swiss activist Mario Weber – were arrested trying to climb onto Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya platform in the Barent’s Sea.
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Video: Russian forces fire shots across Greenpeace ship’s bow
Greenpeace denies piracy claim
The ship is being towed to Murmansk by coast guard after the captain refused to operate it. Greepneace insists Russian forces had no right to board the ship, and have demanded access to their crew.
But Russia’s federal investigative agency, the Investigative Committee, said that it had now opened a case on piracy charges and accused the activists of an ‘attack’ on the platform.
“When a foreign ship full of electronic equipment intended for unknown purposes and a group of people, declaring themselves to be environmental activists, try to storm a drilling platform there are legitimate doubts about their intentions,” the committee said in a statement.
However, Greenpeace insist their actions were peaceful and accused the Russians of an overreaction.
“Greenpeace International has a 40 year history of taking peaceful action to protect the environment, and last week’s protest against dangerous Arctic oil drilling was carried out in line with these strong principles,” said the group’s international executive director Kumi Naidoo said.
“Our activists did nothing to warrant the reaction we’ve seen from the Russian authorities.
“It’s been four days since our ship was boarded and we have still not been offered a legal basis for the raid, and nor have our activists been allowed any contact with lawyers or consular officials.