Oil rig stormed in Greenpeace protest against drilling in Arctic

Greenpeace said in a statement that six activists boarded the Prirazlomnaya platform early yesterday, scaling the platform with mooring lines.

They have enough supplies to last for “an extended stay”, the charity added.

The platform is owned and operated by a subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom, which is pioneering Russia’s oil drilling in the Arctic.

Russian and international environmentalists have warned that drilling in the Russian Arctic could have disastrous consequences because of a lack of technology and infrastructure to deal with a possible spill in a remote region with massive icebergs and heavy storms.

The activists, who include Greenpeace’s chief Kumi Naidoo, did not face much resistance from workers and managed to put up a banner, reading: “Don’t kill the Arctic.”

“We’re here peacefully and we will continue to draw the attention of Russian people and people around the world to what’s happening there,” Mr Naidoo said. “It’s bad for Russia, it’s bad for the planet.”

The state-owned company Prirazlomnaya installed the drilling platform in the Arctic last year and is preparing to drill the first well.

Mr Naidoo said his teams were suspended from the mooring lines. He added many of the platform’s employees “have been very friendly, engaging in conversations with us, asking where we come from and offering us soup”.

Mr Naidoo said the activists had been told by one of the platform employees that a coast guard helicopter was on its way to detain them.