Greenpeace says Canadians among activists arrested in ship in Russia’s Arctic

MOSCOW – Greenpeace says two Canadians are among a number of activists arrested in the high Arctic after armed Russian Coast Guard officials boarded their ship.

The environmentalist group says the armed men boarded the Arctic Sunrise in Russia’s Arctic waters — where Greenpeace has been protesting oil drilling — and held the crew at gunpoint.

It said Coast Guard officials used a helicopter and ropes to board the vessel.

According to Greenpeace, two Canadian men, one from Montreal and one from Port Colbourne, Ont., are among those arrested.

Greenpeace called the boarding illegal, saying at the time the Arctic Sunrise was circling Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya platform at the three nautical mile limit, inside international waters.

The Greenpeace ship is in the Pechora Sea, an arm of the Barents Sea.

A Greenpeace statement says the storming of the Arctic Sunrise took place a day after two activists were arrested following an attempt to board an offshore drilling platform belonging to state natural gas company Gazprom.

The Russian Coast Guard, which made the arrests on Wednesday, is part of the Federal Security Service, where a spokesman said he had no information about the claim.

–With files from The Associated Press