Greenpeace activists chain themselves to Russian oil ship

MOSCOW // More than a dozen Greenpeace activists have intercepted a ship carrying Russian oil workers to a floating oil platform in the Russian Arctic.

Greenpeace said in a statement today that 14 activists chained themselves to the anchor chain of the vessel which was carrying Gazprom's workers to the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea.

Gazprom is pioneering Russia's oil drilling in the Arctic.

The state-owned company installed the platform there last year and is preparing to drill the first well.

Environmentalists have warned that drilling in the Russian Arctic could have disastrous consequences because of a lack of technology to deal with a possible spill in this remote region.

Six Greenpeace activists on Friday spent several hours hanging off the side of the Prirazlomnaya, attached to the rig's mooring lines.