AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – The head of Greenpeace International has written to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting a meeting in Moscow – and offering himself as human bail for 30 environmental activists, including two Canadians, being detained in Murmansk, Russia.
Kumi Naidoo of the Amsterdam-based organization delivered the letter to the Russian Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday.
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He said he would guarantee the activists’ good conduct but said that piracy charges against them don’t make sense and should be dropped.
A group of 28 Greenpeace activists and two journalists have been held since their ship, the Arctic Sunrise was seized by the Russian Coast Guard after a protest outside a Gazprom-owned oil rig Sept. 18.
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Last week they were charged with piracy, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years.
The Canadians being detained are Alexandre Paul of Montreal and Paul Ruzycki of Port Colborne, Ont.
– With files from The Canadian Press.
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