GREENPEACE DEMO SHIP LEAVES RUSSIA
A Greenpeace ship involved in a high-profile protest against drilling for oil in the Arctic has left Russia after being detained for 10 months, the campaign group said.
The Arctic Sunrise had been held in Murmansk since last September following the detention of 30 people on board by Russian security forces during a protest at state oil company Gazprom's drilling platform in the Arctic's Pechora Sea.
Russia's Investigative Committee told Greenpeace International in early June it was annulling the arrest of the ship, and a crew from the environmental group gained access to the vessel on June 27, spending three weeks making it seaworthy.
It has now set sail for its home port of Amsterdam, where it will undergo a thorough assessment of its condition and repairs.
Greenpeace International Arctic campaigner Faiza Oulahsen said: "When the captain and crew boarded the Arctic Sunrise they found it in a bad state, with no maintenance for 10 months, and the ship's navigation, communications and safety systems either removed or destroyed.
"The Arctic Sunrise is now headed for Amsterdam, where the ship will need to undergo extensive repairs, so that it can get back to protecting the Arctic from reckless oil companies like Shell and Gazprom".
She added: "The illegal boarding and arrest of the Arctic Sunrise and the ongoing investigation into the Arctic 30 protest was an attempt to intimidate and stifle debate about Arctic oil drilling, but it has only made us stronger.
"Millions of people spoke out against the illegal imprisonment of the Arctic 30. These same millions of people know the planet is warming and that Arctic ice is melting, and will continue to peacefully oppose the reckless pursuit of Arctic oil both in Russia and around the world."
All 28 activists and two freelance journalists on board the Arctic Sunrise, including six Britons, were arrested and detained in Murmansk and then St Petersburg - charged first with piracy and then hooliganism.
They were granted amnesty under a new Russian law passed in December.
Greenpeace said it had been told by Russian authorities that they had extended their investigation into the Arctic 30 case until September 24 this year, even though the criminal case against the activists and journalists had been dropped.
