Russian Coast Guard officers fired repeated warning shots at peaceful environmental activists in the frigid waters off the coast of northern Russia on Wednesday, threatening to shoot on Greenpeace’s flagship Arctic vessel as well if it did not evacuate the area surrounding an offshore drilling operation run by oil giant Gazprom.
Fulfilling repeated vows to continue their fight against the oil and gas industry’s mad rush to exploit newly accessible offshore regions of the Arctic, Greenpeace activists from aboard the group’s larger ship, the Arctic Sunrise, used smaller boats at daybreak to storm the Gazprom-owned oil platform in Russia’s Pechora Sea.
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However, after successfully ushering two climbers aboard the large drilling vessel, Greenpeace announced that the Russian Coast Guard—employing “a disproportionate use of force” against the peaceful protest—was able to intercept the climbers and place them under arrest.
In addition, said Greenpeace, the Russian Coast Guard requested to board the Arctic Sunrise itself but was refused permission by the ship’s captain. In a statement, Greenpeace International said that such a boarding would be both unjustified and illegal.
“Employing this level of force against a peaceful protest ship is completely disproportionate and should stop immediately,” said Ben Ayliffe, head of Greenpeace International’s Arctic oil campaign. “It’s clear that oil companies receive special protection from the Russian authorities, who seem more interested in silencing peaceful activists than protecting the Arctic from reckless companies like Gazprom.”
“Let’s be absolutely clear about this,” Ayliffe continued, “the real threat to the Arctic comes not from Greenpeace International but from oil companies like Gazprom that are determined to ignore both science and good sense to drill in remote, frozen seas.”
Greenpeace activists, including executive director Kumi Naidoo and those aboard the Arctic Sunrise, were live-tweeting developments:
More from Greenpeace’s statement:
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