DHAKA: The 30 people arrested following a Greenpeace protest at an Arctic oil rig were transferred to St Petersburg on Tuesday.

Greenpeace International and Russian transport officials said, reports The Straits Times.

A sealed wagon attached to a passenger train transported the group from the northern city of Murmansk to St Petersburg’s Ladozhsky Station, the officials said.

While Russia has not given an official reason for the transfer, it comes after widespread international protests over the arrest of the 28 crew members, Russian photographer, and a British videographer aboard the Greenpeace ship.

St Petersburg is a more accessible destination for the activists’ lawyers and family members than Murmansk, a far-flung city north of the Arctic Circle that gets little light during its long winter.

BDST: 1917 HRS, NOV 12, 2013
RoR/RK