"SALEKHARD, Russia -- Russia announced on Tuesday that it had opened a piracy investigation against the crew of a Greenpeace ship after its activists scaled an offshore oil platform in the Arctic last week. The step signaled that the authorities intended to act decisively to thwart more protests against Russia’s ambitious plans to expand energy exploration in the region."

"Russian border guards seized the Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise, in international waters in the Pechora Sea on Thursday, a day after several members of the crew tried to board the Prirazlomnaya platform, which is operated by the Russian state energy giant Gazprom.

The ship was towed to port in Murmansk, arriving on Tuesday. Its crew of 30, held incommunicado since the seizure, includes citizens of 18 countries, among them one American, raising the prospect of a diplomatic confrontation given the gravity of the piracy charges, which carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison."

Steven Lee Myers reports for the New York Times September 24, 2013. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Putin Says Greenpeace Activists Not Pirates, But Did Break Law" (Reuters) [3]

"Greenpeace Activists Held in Russia" (BBC) [4]