An international arbitration panel in The Hague ruled that Russia must pay EUR 5.4 million for seizing Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise near the Prirazlomnaya drilling platform, Interfax news agency reported on June 18.

"The international arbitration panel released its ruling today whereby Russia must pay the Netherlands EUR 5.4 million for the illegal seizure of Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise vessel," Interfax reported, citing a statement released by Greenpeace Russia.

According to Interfax, if Russia complies with the ruling, the money will go to the Netherlands, since the Arctic Sunrise is a Dutch-flagged vessel, after which the payment may be transferred to Greenpeace to compensate for damages suffered by the vessel and its crew.

Greenpeace activists on board Arctic Sunrise tried to stage a protest against shelf oil extraction at the Prirazlomnaya drilling platform in September 2013. The vessel was seized by border control agents and taken to Murmansk, while its crew was detained and later arrested. At first, they were charged with piracy, but later the charges were changed to hooliganism.

Charges were dropped and the crew released at the end of 2013 under an amnesty law marking 20 years of the Russian Federation's Constitution, which enabled crew members to leave Russia in late December 2013. The Arctic Sunrise returned to Amsterdam in 2014, and its owners claimed that it suffered damages during the searches.

The international arbitration panel in The Hague as part of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).