Saturday, September 21, 2013 1:58:15 AM
Arctic Sunrise: Russia to tow Greenpeace ship, detained protesters to port after armed raid
Updated 9 hours 43 minutes ago
PHOTO: A Russian coast guard points a knife at a Greenpeace activist during attempts to
climb Gazprom's Arctic oil platform off Russia north-eastern coast on September 18. (AFP)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-20/russian-border-guards-confront-greenpeace-protesters/4972486
Related Story: Greenpeace says troops stormed protest ship
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-20/greenpeace-says-russia-locked-crew-aboard-arctic-sunrise/4970480
Map: Russian Federation - http://maps.google.com/?q=60,100(Russian%20Federation)&z=5
Russian border guards will tow Greenpeace's Arctic protest ship to port after armed
officers locked up the activists onboard, including two campaigners from Australia.
Border guards stormed the ship after Greenpeace activists scaled an oil platform owned by state energy giant Gazprom to protest against planned drilling on the Arctic shelf.
Special forces officers armed with guns locked up 30 crew members on the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker ship after lowering themselves onto the deck with ropes from a helicopter.
The Federal Government is seeking information from Russia about the welfare of an Australian national and an Australian resident who were among the detained activists.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific identified the two men as 59-year-old radio officer Colin Russell, from Tasmania, and British-born Alex Harris, who works in the organisation's Sydney office.
"The decision was taken that the Arctic Sunrise will be taken to the port of Murmansk for further legal procedures," a spokeswoman for the Murmansk region's border guards - a branch of the FSB security service - told the RIA Novosti news agency.
She said the captain had been questioned but a full investigation would take place when the ship reaches Murmansk, about 1,485 kilometres north of Moscow.
-----
According to the Coast Guard on Russian radio, our ship has not been arrested. They are still deciding what to do with our activists.
— Arctic Sunrise (@gp_sunrise) September 19, 201
-----
There are reports that the ship's captain has been charged with a number of offences, among them terrorism.
Greenpeace Australia's chief executive, David Ritter, says Russia's response is illegal and outrageous.
He said Greenpeace had not been able to communicate with the ship and those on board have been denied access to legal representation.
"They were there to peacefully highlight the dreadful threat to the Arctic environment posed by the Russian oil giant Gazprom, which is trying to be the first company in history to extract oil from the Arctic," he said.
"All the activists had tried to do a day or so earlier was to get on board the oil platform, I understand, in order to hold up a banner to highlight that.
"It is a very well established principle of international law that a nation state does not board a vessel that is peacefully traversing international waters."
Detained activists face 'quite serious accusations'
-----
'Laid out at gunpoint'
Ben Ayliffe, the head of Greenpeace's Arctic oil campaign, talks to Radio National about the Russian takeover of the Arctic Sunrise.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/greenpeace-ship-stormed-by-armed-russian-officials/4970378
-----
Russia's FSB security service, which controls the border guards, has accused the ship's captain of carrying out "unlawful activities".
Greenpeace expert Roman Dolgov told RIA Novosti from onboard the ship: "We are facing quite serious accusations of terrorism and carrying out illegal scientific research."
He said the activists were locked in the mess but allowed out to go to the toilet or smoke.
Greenpeace said border guards on Wednesday had detained two activists who were attempting to scale Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya oil platform and took them on board their patrol boat.
The border guards later returned the two activists from Finland and Switzerland to the Arctic Sunrise and locked them up with their crewmates, Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace said the Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise was in international waters at the time of the boarding, in the south-eastern part of the Barents Sea, which lies to the north of Norway and western Russia.
Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday called in the Dutch ambassador to Moscow to complain about the protest.
Greenpeace is campaigning against surveying of oil and gas fields on the Arctic shelf, arguing that any oil leak would be catastrophic in the pristine environment and impossible to bring under control.
But the prospect of more accessible energy riches as global warming gradually melts the sea ice is prompting rivalry between Russia, Norway and Canada to explore and exploit region.
ABC/AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-20/russia-to-tow-greenpeace-ship-to-port-after-armed-raid/4972356
Remember the French in 2007 Greenpeace going to Muroroa Atoll ..
Rainbow Warrior bombing .. Rainbow Warrior sunk
at her moorings at Marsden Wharf Copyright 2007 NZ Police
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the Japanese over whaling
Australia to take Japan to court over whaling
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=50691723
and .. Nations blast S Korea 'scientific' whaling
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Updated 9 hours 43 minutes ago
PHOTO: A Russian coast guard points a knife at a Greenpeace activist during attempts to
climb Gazprom's Arctic oil platform off Russia north-eastern coast on September 18. (AFP)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-20/russian-border-guards-confront-greenpeace-protesters/4972486
Related Story: Greenpeace says troops stormed protest ship
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-20/greenpeace-says-russia-locked-crew-aboard-arctic-sunrise/4970480
Map: Russian Federation - http://maps.google.com/?q=60,100(Russian%20Federation)&z=5
Russian border guards will tow Greenpeace's Arctic protest ship to port after armed
officers locked up the activists onboard, including two campaigners from Australia.
Border guards stormed the ship after Greenpeace activists scaled an oil platform owned by state energy giant Gazprom to protest against planned drilling on the Arctic shelf.
Special forces officers armed with guns locked up 30 crew members on the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker ship after lowering themselves onto the deck with ropes from a helicopter.
The Federal Government is seeking information from Russia about the welfare of an Australian national and an Australian resident who were among the detained activists.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific identified the two men as 59-year-old radio officer Colin Russell, from Tasmania, and British-born Alex Harris, who works in the organisation's Sydney office.
"The decision was taken that the Arctic Sunrise will be taken to the port of Murmansk for further legal procedures," a spokeswoman for the Murmansk region's border guards - a branch of the FSB security service - told the RIA Novosti news agency.
She said the captain had been questioned but a full investigation would take place when the ship reaches Murmansk, about 1,485 kilometres north of Moscow.
-----
According to the Coast Guard on Russian radio, our ship has not been arrested. They are still deciding what to do with our activists.
— Arctic Sunrise (@gp_sunrise) September 19, 201
Russian State media says that the Arctic Sunrise is going to be taken to Murmansk. #SaveTheArctic
— Arctic Sunrise (@gp_sunrise) September 19, 2013
-----
There are reports that the ship's captain has been charged with a number of offences, among them terrorism.
Greenpeace Australia's chief executive, David Ritter, says Russia's response is illegal and outrageous.
He said Greenpeace had not been able to communicate with the ship and those on board have been denied access to legal representation.
"They were there to peacefully highlight the dreadful threat to the Arctic environment posed by the Russian oil giant Gazprom, which is trying to be the first company in history to extract oil from the Arctic," he said.
"All the activists had tried to do a day or so earlier was to get on board the oil platform, I understand, in order to hold up a banner to highlight that.
"It is a very well established principle of international law that a nation state does not board a vessel that is peacefully traversing international waters."
Detained activists face 'quite serious accusations'
-----
'Laid out at gunpoint'
Ben Ayliffe, the head of Greenpeace's Arctic oil campaign, talks to Radio National about the Russian takeover of the Arctic Sunrise.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/greenpeace-ship-stormed-by-armed-russian-officials/4970378
-----
Russia's FSB security service, which controls the border guards, has accused the ship's captain of carrying out "unlawful activities".
Greenpeace expert Roman Dolgov told RIA Novosti from onboard the ship: "We are facing quite serious accusations of terrorism and carrying out illegal scientific research."
He said the activists were locked in the mess but allowed out to go to the toilet or smoke.
Greenpeace said border guards on Wednesday had detained two activists who were attempting to scale Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya oil platform and took them on board their patrol boat.
The border guards later returned the two activists from Finland and Switzerland to the Arctic Sunrise and locked them up with their crewmates, Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace said the Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise was in international waters at the time of the boarding, in the south-eastern part of the Barents Sea, which lies to the north of Norway and western Russia.
Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday called in the Dutch ambassador to Moscow to complain about the protest.
Greenpeace is campaigning against surveying of oil and gas fields on the Arctic shelf, arguing that any oil leak would be catastrophic in the pristine environment and impossible to bring under control.
But the prospect of more accessible energy riches as global warming gradually melts the sea ice is prompting rivalry between Russia, Norway and Canada to explore and exploit region.
ABC/AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-20/russia-to-tow-greenpeace-ship-to-port-after-armed-raid/4972356
Remember the French in 2007 Greenpeace going to Muroroa Atoll ..
Rainbow Warrior bombing .. Rainbow Warrior sunk
at her moorings at Marsden Wharf Copyright 2007 NZ Police
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=21448563
the Japanese over whaling
Australia to take Japan to court over whaling
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=50691723
and .. Nations blast S Korea 'scientific' whaling
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=77218058
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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