ST. PETERSBURG, December 25 (Itar-Tass) - Russian transit visas for the crew members of the Arctic Sunrise who had their cases closed will be prepared in the next two days, a Greenpeace representative told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

 

“Transit visas for foreign nationals of the Arctic 30 will be issued on Thursday or Friday, according to the Directorate of the Federal Migration Service,” she said. “The thirty crewmembers also include several citizens from the countries enjoying a visa-free regime with Russia. These people do not require exit visas, but they still need to receive entry stamps in their passports.”

The Greenpeace representative added that the activists were not in a hurry to buy any tickets home yet, but they would do it as soon as they obtain the necessary documents.

The 28 Greenpeace activists and two freelance journalists were arrested by Russian authorities in September after they attempted to scale Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Barents Sea.

They were seized by Russian security guards and their vessel was towed to the port of Murmansk. The protesters - who are nationals of 18 different countries, including four Russians - were initially taken into custody on charges of piracy, later downgraded to hooliganism.

After two months in a Russian jail the Greenpeace activists have been released on bail and are currently staying at a hotel in St. Petersburg.