Singer Paul McCartney has written to Russian president Vladimir Putin in an appeal to intervene on behalf of a group of Greenpeace activists who were detained by Russian authorities in September. The group of 28 activists and two journalists — collectively known as the Arctic 30 — are awaiting trial in detention centers in St Petersburg for protesting at an oil-drilling rig in the Barents sea.
In the letter, which McCartney posted to his personal blog, the former Beatle says:
“I am writing to assure you that the Greenpeace I know is most certainly not an anti-Russian organisation. In my experience they tend to annoy every government! And they never take money from any government or corporation anywhere in the world. And above all else they are peaceful. In my experience, non-violence is an essential part of who they are.”
McCartney urged the president — whom he calls Vladimir — intervene in the case and allow the activists to be released “in time for Christmas.”
[Guardian]