Greenpeace activists intercept Russian ship

MOSCOW - The Associated Press

A team of Greenpeace activists including the Executive Director of Greenpeace International prepare to attach themselves to the anchor chain of the Anna Akhmatova cargo ship and chain their boat to it, preventing the ship from lifting anchor and sailing to the Prirazlomnaya oil platform to complete the work that will allow them to begin drilling in this fragile region, on August 27, 2012, in the Arctic. AFP photo

More than a dozen Greenpeace activists have intercepted a ship carrying Russian oil workers to a floating oil platform in Russia’s Arctic.
 
Greenpeace said in a statement on Friday that 14 activists chained themselves to the anchor chain of the vessel which was carrying Gazprom’s workers to the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea.
 
Gazprom is pioneering Russia’s oil drilling in the Arctic. The state-owned company installed the platform there last year and is preparing to drill the first well.
 
Environmentalists have warned that drilling in the Russian Arctic could have disastrous consequences because of a lack of technology to deal with a possible spill in this remote region.
 
Six Greenpeace activists on Friday spent several hours hanging off the side of the Prirazlomnaya, attached to the rig’s mooring lines.