BEIJING, Oct. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia has charged 30 Greenpeace activists with piracy for trying to scale an Arctic oil platform. A court in the northern city of Murmansk remanded the activists in custody for two months.

The activists from 18 countries had attempted to stage a protest on September 18 against Russia’s first oil rig in the Arctic. They were arrested after two of them tried to scale the platform. The environmental group said the protest had been peaceful and that piracy charges have no merit under international or Russian law. They said scientific evidence shows any oil spill in the Pechora Sea would affect more than 3,000 miles of Russia’s northern coastline.

President Vladimir Putin has said the protesters broke international law. He has described Arctic shipping and development as priorities and announced plans to reopen a Soviet-era military base in the region.

(Source: CNTV.cn)