Activists storm Russian Prirazlomnaya oil rig

Greenpeace says its activists have stormed a floating oil rig in Russia's Pechora Sea to protest against oil drilling in the Arctic.

Greenpeace said in a statement that six activists boarded the Prirazlomnaya platform early this morning and remain on the rig.

They set off in inflatable speedboats from their ship and scaled the platform with mooring lines.

The platform is owned and operated by a subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom, which is pioneering Russia's oil drilling in the Arctic.

Russian and international environmentalists have warned that drilling in the Russian Arctic could have disastrous consequences because of a lack of technology and infrastructure to deal with a possible spill in a remote region with massive icebergs and heavy storms.