On September 18, the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise took peaceful action at Gazproms Prirazlomnaya platform to stop it from producing the worlds first oil from icy Arctic waters.
The Russian Coast Guard reacted strongly: after firing warning shots and detaining two activists under armed guard, they then seized the ship and had towed it to the port of Murmansk along with nearly 30 activists and crew members on board.
Greenpeace was without contact with the ship or access to lawyers since Thursday, September 19th. Here are the latest updates:
- A diplomatic delegation of 18 people, representing nine nationalities, went on board the Arctic Sunrise and met for two hours respective nationalities on board.
- Greenpeace has had some limited contact with those on board. They are all well right now and some of them have made calls to friends and family.
- Greenpeace remains in constant contact with next of kin making sure information flows as fast as we have it to their families.
- The activists and crewcame off the ship and were taken by two buses to the offices of the ‘investigative committee’ in Murmansk, Russia.
- Diplomats have gathered outside with media and police, while some 15-16 investigators arrived earlier, together with translators.
- Although the investigative authorities under the Russian FSB, the state security agency, said they have opened a criminal investigation accusing our activists of piracy, no one has been formally charged.
