On the morning of September 18, two Greenpeace International activists were arrested as they protested Arctic oil drilling on the Gazprom platform, Prirazlomnaya, in the Pechora Sea off the Russian coast. They were held overnight without charges or legal representation aboard a Russian Coast Guard vessel.

The following day, September 19, the Russian Coast Guard then illegally boarded the Greenpeace International ship Arctic Sunrise while in international waters and is now holding 30 of our activists under armed guard. We are demanding the urgent release of all activists, the immediate withdrawal of the Coast Guard from our ship, and an end to offshore oil drilling in the Arctic for good.