Arbitration Court at The Hague demands €5.4 million from Russia for the detention of Greenpeace vessel
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague has ordered Russia to pay the Netherlands € 5.4 million plus interest for the detention of the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise and its crew in 2013.
As follows from a press release by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Russia violated the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea when detaining the ship and crew of the Arctic Sunrise in September 2013.
Additionally, Moscow did not comply with the decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and did not make advance payments to pay court costs. In this regard, the court ruled that Russia must pay the Netherlands €5.39 million, as well as accrued interest.
Of this amount, Moscow must pay more than €1.6 million as compensation for damage caused to the ship, as well as another €2.4 million for damage caused to the 30 people who were on board the ship.
On September 19, 2013, Russian border guards detained 30 members of the crew of the Greenpeace ice-breaker Arctic Sunrise for attempting to conduct a protest against oil production on the Prirazlomnoye field in the Pechora Sea. The ecologists were taken to Murmansk, where the Russian court arrested them. They were later released on bail and amnestied in observance of the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution.
The ship was only released in June 2014.