This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Berlin • A U.N.-mandated tribunal has ordered Russia to immediately release a Greenpeace ship and its crew in return for a 3.6 million euro ($5 million) bond.
The Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled Friday that "the Russian Federation shall immediately release the vessel Arctic Sunrise and all persons who have been detained upon the posting of a bond or other financial security by the Netherlands."
The tribunal also ordered Russia to allow the vessel and those detained to leave the country.
Thirty people aboard a Greenpeace ship were detained when the Arctic Sunrise was seized by the Russian coast guard after a protest near a Gazprom-owned oil rig on Sept. 18.
Most of them have already been ordered released on bail.