Foreign diplomats meet with detained Greenpeace activists in Murmansk - Russian investigators
MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax) - Foreign diplomats have already met with the citizens of their countries detained during a recent Greenpeace protest off of Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya offshore oil platform in the Pechora Sea, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Thursday.
"Representatives of foreign consulates who wanted to speak to the citizens of their countries were allowed to meet with them yesterday. The diplomats also approved of their detention conditions and were able to see for themselves that these people's rights are being rigorously observed," he said.
Today, the Leninsky District Court of Murmansk is expected to impose pre-trial restrictions on the Greenpeace activists detained during a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic, where two environmentalists attempted to board the Prirazlomnaya platform.
On September 19, the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise was raided by Russian Border Guard Service special operations units who rappelled down from helicopters onto the vessel.
The Arctic Sunrise was towed to the Murmansk Port on September 24 with its multinational crew, including four Russians, onboard.
The Russian authorities described the Greenpeace action as a provocation.
Markin told Interfax earlier today that investigators would demand that all of the 30 Arctic Sunrise crewmembers, who were questioned on Wednesday, be remanded into custody.