Arctic 30: they're home!

They're finally home.

An hour ago, Alex, Anthony, Phil, Iain, and Kieron stepped through arrivals at St Pancras International, and are completely free at last.

Over the past couple of days, exit visas have been issued to all of the Arctic 30, and they've gradually been leaving St Petersburg. Dima Litvinov was the first to leave yesterday evening – exactly 100 days after they took action against Gazprom's oil rig - and the rest are following over the next few days.

It’s thanks to you they're free. Every email, every vigil, every protest during the last three months has kept the eyes of the world on Russia. Millions of us around the world joined together to free the Arctic 30 and protect the Arctic. While the injustice of the last three months is now over, the enormous threat to the Arctic remains.

There's a fantastic quote from Kieron Bryan that sums it up: “People in [Russia] don’t get bail, it doesn’t happen. When we got bail, that’s because of the pressure put on the Russian government by everyone supporting us. If it wasn’t for that, I know I’d have spent Christmas Day in prison.”

The Arctic 30 sailed north to bear witness to a profound environmental threat, they protested peacefully at that oil platform because they knew an Arctic oil spill can’t be cleaned up, and they know the danger posed to the Arctic by climate change. They took part in civil disobedience because sometimes actually doing something - taking a stand - is the only course of action open.

Today, we can celebrate the freedom of the Arctic 30. Tomorrow, the fight to save the Arctic goes up a gear. As the Arctic 30 received amnesty, Gazprom began production of the first oil from beneath the icy Arctic seas - and with Shell poised to return to the Alaskan Arctic next year, the threat to this beautiful and fragile region has never been greater.

But with millions of us standing together, the movement to protect it has never been stronger.

While in Russia Arctic 30 activist Camila Speziale said: “Am I ready to continue fighting for my beliefs? Of course I am.”

They're ready. Are you?

On the train heading back to the UK (c) David Sandison / Greenpeace

Arriving at St Pancras (c) David Sandison / Greenpeace