Holland to file suit against Russia

The Netherlands is to file a complaint against Russia in an international court to secure the release of a Dutch-registered Greenpeace vessel and its 30-member crew — detained over piracy accusations.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said on Friday that he would file an arbitration suit at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, based in Germany, since it was not clear to him whether the vessel™s seizure was legal.

œI really want to consult with my Russian colleagues…to get these people freed as soon as possible,” Timmermans said. œI don’t understand why this could be thought to have anything to do with piracy; I don’t see how you could think of any legal grounds for that.”

Thirty activists of 19 different nationalities were arrested when Russian border guards stormed the Greenpeace icebreaker vessel, Arctic Sunrise, on September 19, a day after two of its activists climbed a Russian oil rig in the Pechora Sea to protest the environmental impact of oil drilling on the Arctic™s fragile ecosystem.

All 30 people, including two journalists, who were on the Greenpeace ship, were sentenced to two months in jail pending an investigation into piracy — a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The Arctic Sunrise vessel is currently anchored outside the northern Russian city of Murmansk.

Greenpeace lawyer Jasper Teulings said œOur ship was illegally detained in international waters following a peaceful protest against Arctic oil drilling and we hope that other states, especially the countries whose nationals are among the detained, will support the Netherlands in this commendable initiative.”

The main target of the environmental activists was the Prirazlomnaya oil rig, owned by a subsidiary of Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom and a flagship project in Russia™s efforts to kick-start its offshore drilling activities in the Arctic.

Major foreign oil corporations such as Exxon Mobil, Eni, and Statoil have signed lucrative deals with state-owned oil monolith Rosneft to work in Russia™s Arctic region.

Greenpeace and other environmental groups oppose oil drilling in the Arctic region, arguing that modern technologies are insufficient for cleaning up possible oil spills threatening the region™s fragile ecosystem, and that drilling in the region cannot be economically viable without state subsidies.

Moreover, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized on September 25 that the actions of the Greenpeace activists did not amount to piracy but were ˜illegal.™

œIt™s completely obvious that they breached international law by coming within dangerous proximity of the oil rig. There was a threat to people™s lives,” Putin said in a conference to Arctic issues.

As part of a global day of solidarity, Greenpeace activists will be staging demonstrations in 170 locations across 45 countries on Saturday.

YH/HN