Greenpeace activists in Prague on Saturday staged an event in support of
colleagues who are currently behind bars in Russia after protesting at an
Arctic oil rig. Greenpeace is collecting signatures on a petition for
their
release and has urged supporters to write to the Russian embassy and send
messages to the detained activists. On September 18, the environmental
organization's icebreaker, the Arctic Sunrise, approached the
Prirazlomnaya
oil platform in the Pechora Sea, owned by a subsidiary of Russian energy
giant Gazprom, and its activists tried to scale the platform in protest
against drilling in the Arctic. Russian authorities detained all 30
members
of the ship’s multinational crew, comprising citizens of 19 countries,
including Argentina, Finland, Sweden, UK, Ukraine and the US. Courts in
Murmansk have ordered the activists to be kept in custody until November
24.