AMSTERDAM – 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.
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.
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.