Activists are putting their bodies on the line as they try to speed up Denmark’s efforts to wean itself off Russian energy imports.
Greenpeace activists paddled into the chilly waters north of Denmark to prevent the transfer of more than 100,000 tons of oil between the oil tankers Seoath and Pertamina Prime.
“On this beautiful sunny and very cold day in the waters outside the most Northern part of Denmark, I am protesting against Russian oil and fossil fuels,” said Greenpeace activist Olga Lupilina. “Together with other activists from across Europe, I am using my body to get in the way of the tanker named Seaoath carrying 100,000 tonnes of Russian oil from Primorsk.”
Lupilina and her crew put their kayaks and rib boats in between the massive tankers. Some of the protesters got out of their boats, covered head-to-toe in dry suits, to float on their backs and hold signs expressing their outrage.
BREAKING: Swimmers and kayaks have blocked a transshipment of 100 000 tonnes of Russian oil between two supertankers at sea in Danish waters. The activists demand that governments #StopFuellingWar and ban fossil fuels from Russia. pic.twitter.com/YaiD1DUz4Q
— Greenpeace i Danmark (@greenpeacedk) March 31, 2022
“When we showed up, they even stopped trying,” Gustav Martner told Reuters. “Now, it looks like they’re waiting us out.”
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The North Sea waters near Frederikshavn, where the activists interrupted the oil transfer, were a cool 42 degrees on Thursday.
Greenpeace has been tracking hundreds of tankers carrying gas out of Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February.
Lupilina claimed the Seaoath was carrying $65 million worth of crude oil. As a Russian, Lupilina said her desire to join the protest was both personal and political.
“I lived most of my life in Russia and I have family and loved ones in Russia,” she said. “I now live in the EU where I have more freedom to protest injustice. It’s a privilege and I use it in solidarity with both the people of Ukraine who desperately need peace and the many Russians who bravely protest against the war inside Russia despite the severe risks of suppression.”
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Denmark, a NATO and European Union member, joined much of the West to cut Russia out of world markets by laying punishing sanctions on its economy. Earlier this month, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her country planned to stop imports of Russian natural gas “as soon as possible.”
Natural gas made up 16% of Denmark’s primary energy production in 2018. The Nordic country imported $360 million worth of oil from Russia in 2021, according to a UNICEF report. Russia supplies about 15% of Denmark’s oil imports, a hefty sum but far less than countries such as Lithuania (83%), Finland (80%), and Slovakia (74%).
The EU has been hesitant to pull the trigger on placing sweeping sanctions on Russia’s ability to export energy. Europe is highly reliant on Russian energy, and though it has contingency plans to survive the summer if Russia closed the energy taps, several obstacles stand in the way of divorcing the bloc’s major supplier.
