Russia dismisses intl tribunal ruling on Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise ship and crew
Russia is not going to comply with a maritime tribunal’s ruling to release the Greenpeace vessel as the issue does not fall within its jurisdiction, said a Kremlin official, accusing the activists of using ‘unsuitable means’ for implementing their idea.
“We have no plans to participate in the process”, Sergey
Ivanov, the head of the Russian Presidential administration told
journalists in St. Petersburg on Saturday. According to a 1982
convention Russia can ignore the findings of the Tribunal on the
Law for the Sea if it concerns Russia’s sovereign rights and
jurisdiction.
Ivanov was referring to the Friday’s ruling of the tribunal in
Hamburg that ordered Russia to allow the Greenpeace Arctic
Sunrise vessel and the 30 activists who were onboard to leave the
country for a bond of €3.6 million (about $5 million).
The vessel is currently moored in the Russian port of Murmansk
while the international maritime court still has to rule on the
legality of Russia seizing the ship.
Ivanov reaffirmed Russia’s dismissal of the ruling adding that
the “question will be solved in a judicial, not political
manner, [and] based on Russian legislation, not someone’s
political wishes.”
"There's a legal procedure and we're observing it
strictly," he said adding that he believes the activists will
leave Russia as soon as all legal issues are completed.
Ivanov noted that their ‘noble idea’ was implemented
using ‘unsuitable means’ and described the actions of the
activists who he called 'environmentalists or pseudo
environmentalists' as 'PR for profit.'
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the Russian
literary meeting in Moscow on Thursday said that the actions of
the Greenpeace environmentalists threatened the lives of those
who worked on the oil rig.
"When [somebody] is climbing on the platform, [they] are
creating an emergency situation, the operator [of the rig] could
have made more than one error. They are distracted from the
ongoing work. Among other things, there were divers underwater
and their life was in danger," said Putin.
Thirty Arctic Sunrise activists including two journalists were
detained after they scaled the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the
Pechora Sea in September in order to stop its operations.
Twenty nine of them have been released on bail, however they face
jail terms of up to seven years if found guilty of hooliganism
and cannot leave Russia till the court proceedings are over.
The detention of the Arctic Thirty has sparked sharp criticism
from the group’s supporters and human rights organizations.
