THE Greenpeace protest ship, the 624-dwt Arctic Sunrise has again set sail, this time from Tromso, Norway to protest oil drilling in Norwegian water having been released from a Russian jail for interfering with drilling operations.
"We have no plans to enter the Russian waters. It is on the Norwegian side where the most controversial drilling is planned to take place, and Norway that is the most aggressive Arctic oil player in practical terms," said Truls Gulowsen, head of Greenpeace Norway on his way to do what landed him and his crew in jail in Murmansk.
This new venture comes days after the environmental protest group scored a major propaganda victory when an international tribunal in Vienna ordered Russia to pay EUR5 million (US$5.7 million) in damages after it arrested the ship in 2013 for a year and imprisoned its crew for two months.
By their own account, the Greenpeace activists tried to climb the oil rigs drilling tower, which prompted the arrests by Russian authorities.
Russia has refused to recognise the ruling or the panel's jurisdiction, saying it never accepted enforcement provisions in the convention that established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, furthermore was acting within its own 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
The Russian Coast Guard arrested the Dutch-flagged Arctic Surprise and towed it into Murmansk, following a protest against Russia's GazpromNeft's Prirazlomnoye drilling rig in the eastern Barents Sea.
Mr Gulowsen, the Greenpeace Norwegian head, told the Barents Observer of Kirkenes, Norway, that Norway's Statoil's drilling was the most controversial.
"Greenpeace is taking the Arctic Sunrise to the Barents Sea since Statoil's Arctic programme is currently the most controversial drilling project on the planet. They go further north, closer to the ice edge and vulnerable seabird habitats and deeper into undeveloped areas than any other project, totally ignoring the recommendations from Norway's environmental agency as well as the climate lawsuit launched by Greenpeace and Nature and Youth," said Mr Gulowsen.
"Designed as an icebreaker, the Arctic Sunrise, has a rounded hull without a keel, which allows it to navigate through sea ice - but also makes life rather interesting in rolling seas," said the Greenpeace website.
