Russia accuses Greenpeace activists of piracy

(AFP) Russia on Tuesday opened a criminal probe into suspected piracy against foreign and local activists from environmental lobby group Greenpeace who staged an open sea protest over the Arctic oil work of the energy giant Gazprom.

Four Russians and 26 foreign nationals, who are currently being interrogated on board a Greenpeace vessel seized by the Russian authorities, could face up to 15 years in jail if the case comes to trial.

The group had been trying to highlight the dangers of Russian-led efforts to develop the Arctic as ice floes are breaking up due to global warming and two activists climbed up a Gazprom oil platform in the Barents Sea in a protest on September 18.

Agents from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) seized control of the activists' Arctic Sunrise vessel the next day by descending onto the deck from helicopters in a commando-style operation.

The Dutch-flagged ship anchored Tuesday off the coast of the Far Northern city of Murmansk after being towed from the scene of the incident by Russian border guards in a voyage lasting several days.

It was not immediately clear if all 30 members of the crew who were monitoring Gazprom's activities would be prosecuted or just those directly involved in the climbing stunt.

The chief spokesman for the powerful Investigative Committee, Russia's equivalent to the American FBI, said regional security authorities had launched a criminal probe for piracy "undertaken by an organised group".

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin warned that the activists would be prosecuted regardless of their citizenship.

"It should be noted that all persons who attacked the (oil) platform, regardless of their citizenship, will be brought to criminal responsibility," he said.

Greenpeace has condemned the Russian action and said it had received some 400,000 e-mails and letters of support for the "Arctic 30".

"Any charge of piracy against peaceful activists has no merit in international law," Greenpeace's International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said in an e-mailed statement.

"We will not be intimidated or silenced by these absurd accusations and demand the immediate release of our activists."

Russia's slice of the Arctic is generating growing interest from energy producers as gradually rising temperatures open sea lanes and reveal the vast oil and natural gas reserves thought to be buried below.

But Greenpeace argues the firms have no plan in place to deal with potential oil spills in a previously unexplored environment that is home to polar bears and walruses as well as rare seabirds.

The icebreaker had been monitoring the exploration activities of Gazprom and a state oil firm called Rosneft for most of the past two months to expose the hazards posed to one of the world's great nature reserves.

Its presence had been barely noted by Russia's state-run media that dominate the airwaves, a signal the issue may be either sensitive or unpleasant for the Kremlin.

President Vladimir Putin has been facing dual threats from a fledgling opposition movement and an economic slowdown whose pace has been largely tempered by Russia's oil and gas exports.

Putin has welcomed some of the West's largest energy companies to the Arctic since 2011 and the authorities' muscular response to the latest Greenpeace protest seems to indicate their resolve.

Greenpeace says the Russian action was illegal because the Arctic Sunrise was in international waters at the time of the raid.

But Markin argued that the ship was "in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation" when it was boarded by the FSB agents.

Greenpeace said the boat has activists from 16 different nations on board but it has not identified the crew.

It also noted that the Russians have still not formally charged the team or its individual members despite the launching of a formal criminal probe.

Russia's legal system requires the authorities to open a formal investigation under a specific statute of the criminal code before filing any specific charges against individuals or groups.

Local authorities from the Murmansk region said the activists would probably not be allowed onshore Tuesday and would instead be interviewed by investigators aboard the ship.

"Consulate representatives from countries that have citizens onboard have requested a meeting (with the crew)," Interfax quoted a local Federal Security Service official as saying.

"Such a meeting will be arranged."