Russian coast guards on Monday boarded and inspected a Greenpeace icebreaker after it refused to leave the site of a planned protest against oil drilling in the Arctic.
Russian coast guards on Monday boarded and inspected a Greenpeace
icebreaker after it refused to leave the site of a planned protest against oil
drilling in the
Arctic
.
On Saturday, the Dutch-flagged vessel entered without permission the
Northern
Sea Route
in order to call attention to plans by Russian top
oil firm Rosneft (ROSN.RS) and its
U.S.
partner ExxonMobil (XOM) to drill in a remote nature reserve.
The Arctic Sunrise approached the site of the planned protest in the
Kara
Sea
unhindered but on Sunday the Russian coast guard asked the ship to leave the
area.
After Greenpeace refused to heed the request, four unarmed members of the Coast
Guard "boarded the ship "without permission," Greenpeace said in
a statement.
The Russians boarded the icebreaker after the group dispatched inflatable boats
with banners reading "Save the Arctic" near The Geolog Dmitry
Nalivkin, an oil exploration vessel contracted by Rosneft and ExxonMobil, it
said.
On Sunday, "the Russian coast guard announced the creation of a four
nautical mile 'exclusion zone' around the Geolog Dmitry Nalivkin, preventing
the activists from obtaining clear images of the vessel," Greenpeace said.
Last week Greenpeace said
Russia
had
refused permission to enter the
Northern
Sea Route
on several occasions citing concerns about the icebreaker's
ability to withstand thick ice.
The global environmental group has called the move "a thinly veiled
attempt to stifle peaceful protest".
The Russian transportation ministry has accused the Greenpeace vessel of
"crudely" violating Russian and international law.
The transportation ministry said on Saturday it had sent a letter to the
foreign ministry with a request to get in touch with The Netherlands' maritime
authorities "with the aim of influencing the owner of the vessel on behalf
of the flag state."
The
Netherlands
said
on Sunday Greenpeace's right to peaceful protest was "indisputable,"
adding that there was no reason to doubt the ship's technical state.
Greenpeace said the plans to drill in the
Russian
Arctic
National
Park
were in contravention of
Russia
's own
laws.
Established in 2009, the nature reserve is home to endangered species such as
the bowhead whale, and it is a major breeding ground for polar bears.
Rosneft, headed by one of President Vladimir Putin's closest confidants, Igor
Sechin, has said its offshore operations were "absolutely safe".
Russia
and
the
United States
hope
that the global warming melting the Arctic sea ice will help them tap the vast
oil and gas resources believed to be buried in the region.
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