This video is the first to show the moment that the Greenpeace ship the Arctic Sunrise was boarded by Russian authorities. The vessel was seized on Sept. 19, after staging protests against the Prirazlomnaya oil platform, owned by Russian energy firm Gazprom.
The footage — shot by crew members of the ship, and supplied to BuzzFeed by Greenpeace — shows Russian authorities abseiling from a helicopter onto the deck of the Arctic Sunrise. Thirty people from the ship are currently in custody in Russia, facing charges of hooliganism — after initially facing charges of piracy.
The crew of the ship engage in what is described as peaceful noncooperation — attempting to prevent the boarding by getting in the way with their arms in the air.
The ship was taken without any significant violence -— the video shows guns being waved, shouted threats, and some shoving, but little direct physical force.
Russia's detention of the ship's crew has drawn international condemnation, with the Dutch taking the Russian authorities to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, in an effort to force the immediate release of the detainees.
Russia says that the protestors were threatening the security of Russian workers at the oil rig.
