Investigative Committee News

Russian investigators were conducting searches at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) after Saturday's oil spill near the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, the regional branch of the investigative committee said on Thursday.Russia opened a criminal investigation on the spill, which occurred during loading of a tanker moored to an offshore floating jetty. According to CPC, a crucial part of the jetty broke and caused the accident."In connection with the criminal case, representatives of the Investigative Committee are interviewing CPC employees and examining documents. The consortium provides the necessary assistance to the investigation team…

A Russian fishing trawler capsized and sank in the freezing waters of the northern Barents Sea on Monday, with 17 of its 19 crew members feared dead.The Emergency Situations Ministry attributed the sinking to a heavy build-up of ice on the trawler, which sank off the coast of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.It said two crew members had been rescued by another fishing boat in the area and that searches to try to recover the rest of the crew were ongoing."Chances of survival in such conditions…

Greed and corruption were to blame for the sinking of a Russian trawler last week in which at least 56 crew died, a spokesman for investigators said on Wednesday. The Dalniy Vostok fishing vessel sank in the icy Sea of Okhotsk off Russia's far eastern coast last Thursday. Sixty-three people were rescued out of a crew of 132 people, with 13 missing presumed dead. Many past Russian disasters have been blamed on negligence or violation of safety regulations. "There are no doubts that this is a crime at the base of which lies the greed of the businessmen who owned the vessel and corrupt officials," Vladimir Markin, the Investigative Committee spokesman, told Rossiya 1 television, TASS news agency reported.

Firefighters at Zvyozdochka shipyard in Russia's northern province of Arkhangelsk partially flooded a nuclear-powered submarine to extinguish a blaze that started aboard the vessel. The vessel - classified as Oscar-II by NATO - is a cruise missile type sub which carries nuclear material and has two reactors aboard. There were no weapons on board of 949 Antei submarine, the vessel's nuclear reactor had been shut down prior to the blaze and nobody was hurt, said the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation which runs the Zvyozdochka shipyard where the 155-metre (500 ft) 949 Antei submarine was being repaired. Initial efforts to put…

Russian prosecutors detained four Moscow airport workers and denied bail to the driver of a snow plough which hit a private jet killing the CEO of French oil company Total earlier this week, officials said on Thursday. Russia's investigative committee has moved quickly to detain those it says might be responsible for the crash, which killed Christophe de Margerie in a tragedy which has done little to improve Russia's reputation for poor air safety. The chief executive of Moscow's Vnukovo airport and his deputy resigned over the crash, but some critics have accused investigators of trying to find a scapegoat by accusing the driver of the snow plough, 60-year-old Vladimir Martynenko, of being drunk. His lawyer denied the allegations.

Private jet collided with snow plow during takeoff; Total's CEO a defender of Moscow policies. Insiders Boisseau and Pouyanne long seen as potential successors. The chief executive of French oil major Total, Christophe de Margerie, was killed when his private jet collided with a snow plough as it was taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Monday night. De Margerie's death leaves a void at the top of one of the world's biggest listed oil firms at a difficult time for the industry as oil prices fall and state-backed competitors keep them out of some of the best oil exploration territory. The collision occurred minutes before midnight Moscow time as de Margerie's Dassault Falcon jet was taking off for Paris.

Russia’s investigative committee (IC) this morning informed Greenpeace International that it has annulled the arrest of the ship Arctic Sunrise, which has remained in custody in Murmansk since performing a protest against Arctic oil drilling September 19, 2013. According to Greenpeace, the investigative committee recently extended its investigation into the protest at the Prirazlomnaya platform by two months, until July 24. However, lawyers acting for Greenpeace International were informed of the ship’s release during a meeting in the port city of Murmansk this morning.

The final chapter in the legal ordeal of the Arctic 30 began as the group was asked to attend a meeting at Russia’s powerful Investigative Committee, where the criminal case against them is being dropped en masse. According to Greenpeace they will then have one more hurdle – securing exit visas in their passports – before the non-Russians are free to leave the country and be reunited with their families. A meeting with the Federal Migration Service is scheduled for later today. The Arctic 30 are expected to leave Russia in the coming days.

Lawyers for the Arctic 30 have started to lodge applications with Russia's Investigative Committee seeking exit visas for the non-Russian nationals. If the applications are approved, the foreign nationals would be allowed to leave Russia to await ongoing investigations into their Greenpeace International Arctic oil drilling protest. All of the foreign nationals, 26 people from 17 nations, have had their passports returned to them after their release on bail from detention last month.

Greenpeace International confirms that the train carrying 30 men and women detained after  a peaceful protest at a Gazprom Arctic oil platform has arrived in St Petersburg. The Arctic 30 departed from Murmansk in a prison wagon early on Monday and upon arrival in St Petersburg the wagon was detached and moved 1km away from the station. The authorities moved the detainees to transportation buses, surrounded by many police. It is not yet certain which SIZO (detention centre) in…

Prosecuting authorities in Russia were under fire today after it was revealed that they have failed to lift charges of piracy against the Arctic 30, despite pledging to do so. Russia’s powerful Investigative Committee announced last week that the piracy charges – which carry a 15-year jail sentence – would be replaced with charges of hooliganism. But when the thirty detainees were brought before the Committee over the course of this week, the piracy charge was not withdrawn. Instead each of them was simply served with the additional charge of hooliganism. They now stand accused of both offences, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 and 7 years, respectively.

Russia boycotts ITLOS arbitration concerning their siezure of the Dutch-flagged 'Arctic Sunrise', and Greenpeace responds to reports that piracy charges against the 30 held in custody were to be replaced by that of 'hooliganism'. The Russian Foreign Ministry has announced that it will not accept an international arbitration process at which the Netherlands is seeking the release of the Greenpeace International ship Arctic Sunrise and its crew. It also said it plans not to attend the hearing at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). According to Greenpeace, the Ministry did, however, say that at the same time Russia remains open to settling the situation. “The Arctic 30 are no more hooligans than they were pirates.

Greenpeace International has branded as ‘a fantasy’ claims by Russia’s Investigative Committee that activists endangered the safety of Russian security officers in the course of their protest at a Russian Arctic oil platform. Greenpeace International has today published a slow motion video of an incident in which a Greenpeace boat comes to assist another one being harassed by armed security forces. The Greenpeace boat sails towards the middle of the port side of the security forces boat and then only briefly touches it with the nose, immediately turning away and making a 180° turn to the left.

According to media reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that the 30 Greenpeace International activists detained by Russian authorities after an Arctic drilling protest are ‘obviously not pirates’, but has suggested that they may have broken international laws. He made these remarks at an Arctic forum in Salekhard. All 30 activists remain under arrest near Murmansk, apparently in different locations. Five people were interviewed last night by the Investigative Committee and served papers confirming they were are being investigated for piracy offences.