Russia has been asked to free a Greenpeace ship and its crew detained during a protest at an arctic oil-drilling platform, the World Wildlife Fund said Monday.
The organization said more than 40 environmental groups signed a letter to President Vladimir Putin requesting the release of the Arctic Sunrise and the 30 people reported aboard, RIA Novosti reported.
Russian border guards said the ship was involved in "piracy" when they seized it Thursday in the Pechora Sea in international waters inside Russia's exclusive economic zone, officials said.
Greenpeace activists had scaled the rig the day before, the officials said.
The letter, written by Russian branches of domestic and international environmental groups, said the activists had "acted peacefully" in attempting to bring public attention to oil production projects they considered "environmentally unacceptable."
More...
Today's floods come after a week of storms in the region.Japan, China and the Philippines were...
Evacuations have been ordered for areas along California’s famous Big Sur coast as a wildfire burns...
Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level...
