A dozen Greenpeace activists in kayaks and swimming in the water blocked the transfer of Russian oil between two tankers off Denmark’s coast on Thursday, the environmental organisation said.
Greenpeace organised the action to call for a ban on the import of fossil fuels from Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine.
“At 11:00 am (0900 GMT), activists began the blockade of the supertanker Pertamina Prime, preventing the other ship Seaoath from approaching it and blocking the transfer of oil,” Greenpeace spokeswoman Emma Oehlenschlager told AFP.
Both ships are Russian.
Eleven activists rode kayaks or swam in the icy waters off of Frederikshavn, some of them carrying signs calling on governments to “stop fuelling the war”.
The activists painted “Oil fuels war” on the hull of the Pertamina Prime.
Some 100,000 tonnes of crude oil were to be transferred between the two ships.
In the past two weeks, the Danish branch of Greenpeace has carried out several actions against Russian vessels conducting oil transfers, though this was the first successful blockade.
“This is the only time we’ve managed to stop the delivery. In the other instances, the tankers either diverted or accelerated”, Oehlenschlager said.
“They will now maintain the blockade as long as possible to make sure the ships can’t get close to each other to carry out the transfer”, she said, urging Denmark to ban the transfer of Russian oil in its waters.
