Russia begins closing cases against Greenpeace activists

MOSCOW — Investigators began closing criminal cases against 28 Greenpeace activists and two freelance journalists Tuesday as part of an amnesty viewed by many as an effort by President Vladimir Putin to polish Russia’s image before hosting the Olympic Winter Games.

“We have information that all 30 cases are being closed down, but not all the papers have been officially signed and stamped yet,” Greenpeace Arctic program coordinator Vladimir Chuprov said in an interview.

On Sunday, tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once considered Putin’s most potent political foe, was freed after 10 years in prison. Two members of the punk music protest group Pussy Riot were freed Monday after 22 months in jail.

Like those released earlier, Greenpeace activists were not in the mood to thank Putin.

“Putin wanted to teach us a lesson, and from now on we will be considering risks we take in our future actions here,” Chuprov said. “But we have not been intimidated, and we have not been put on our knees. Nothing will prevent us from continuing our struggle for the Arctic’s environment.”

The activists were arrested in September when commandos dropped from helicopters onto the Greenpeace icebreaker Arctic Sunrise. A day earlier, some of the activists tried to climb the side of a Russian oil platform in the exclusive Russian economic zone in Barents Sea in order to protest oil drilling in the Arctic.

The ship was towed to Russia’s northern port of Murmansk, where the activists were jailed and accused of piracy, a charge which could carry up to 10 years of imprisonment.

The charges were later reduced to hooliganism and the detainees, who are from several countries, were transferred to St. Petersburg, where they were released on bail at the end of November pending the investigation.

The first case to be officially closed was that of British national Anthony Perret. But Perret still can’t leave the country because he entered without a visa. The Federal Migration Service said it will contact him Thursday regarding his visa.

“It’s time to go home, it’s time to get back to Wales, and I just got one big step closer,” Perret said in remarks distributed by Greenpeace. “I took peaceful action to defend a fragile region under profound threat and instead I was seized by armed commandos at sea and spent two months in detention. The Arctic is melting before our eyes, and yet the oil companies are lining up to profit from its destruction.”

Another member of the group, Greenpeace Russia spokesman Andrei Allakhverdov, said he was not inclined to thank Putin for the amnesty.

“My feeling are mixed: On the one hand I am glad it is all over; on the other hand, how can I forget the two months in Russian prisons even if we experienced it in the kind of Gulag light mode,” Allakhverdov said in a telephone interview from St. Petersburg. “It was a tough enough lesson, but it won’t prevent us from continuing to draw attention to the problems of the Arctic and we will not stop until it is turned into a natural reserve like the Antarctic.”

While the other high-profile prisoners recently freed also declined to thank Putin, Khodorkovsky said in Berlin on Sunday that he was glad Putin had acted. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the Pussy Riot members, called the amnesty ridiculous.

Political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin said the amnesty probably won’t do much to improve Putin’s international standing, but is likely to weaken his tough-guy image at home.

“Putin didn’t display real clemency or generosity, since his motives were solely guided by pressure coming from Western leaders and politicians, as well as from the civil society inside the country,” said Oreshkin, a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geography. “Most Western leaders are not coming to his Games in Sochi, anyway, and he has lost some footing with his supporters at home who eagerly applauded the imprisonment of Khodorkovsky, Pussy Riot, and the detention of the Greenpeace activists.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.