Activist group Greenpeace said Saturday it intends to defy a Russian ban and protest against oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, dpa reported. The Greenpeace-owned icebreaker MV Arctic Sunrise set sail for the affected area in the Kara Sea, a spokesman for the organization said at its Amsterdam headquarters. Russia had refused passage to the ship earlier in the week on the ground that its hull was not sufficiently protected against ice. Greenpeace rejected this as a pretext to prevent peaceful protests and independent scrutiny of resource extraction in the Kara Sea. Oil drilling near the North Pole represents a major risk for this ecologically sensitive area," campaign coordinator Joris Thijssen said. The Russian ban was illegal in the opinion of the organization, he said. The group said it had informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands of the action and requested its legal assistance. -- SPA 19:08 LOCAL TIME 16:08 GMT تغريد
