Julie Alvad, dressed up as a Polar bear, got a “good luck” wish from Børge Brende after discussing Arctic oil drilling outside the hotel in Tromsø where the Barents Council meeting takes place.
“We don’t want oil drilling in the Arctic. The activists in Murmansk just expressed their views. They should be let out,” says Julie Alvad. Together with other Greenpeace supporters she demonstrated outside the Barents ministers’ hotel.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has said it will charge all 30 individuals from the Greenpeace vessel “Arctic Sunrise” with hooliganism.
Erlend Tellnes is Arctic advisor with Greenpeace Norway. He says to BarentsObserver that the activists detained in Murmansk just expressed the same concern for climate changes and threats to the Arctic environment as the politicians meeting for the Barents Council in Tromsø.
”They tried to warn the world about what we risk in the Arctic, they now risk years in Russian jail based on ridiculous charges. The Nordic ministers must give a clear message to Russia that the activists must be released immediately. The ministers must protect the right to make peaceful demonstratins and warn about ecological destructions,” says Erlend Tellnes.
One of the issues on the agenda for the Barents Council meeting is a climate action plan for the region. Greenpeace says they hope the politicians will protect the Arctic from oil drilling in a time of dramatic climate changes.
