Click here for request (approximately 130 pages); Click here for press release (approximately 2 pages)

The Netherlands, on October 21, 2013, submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea a request for the prescription of provisional measures pending the constitution of an arbitral tribunal in a dispute with the Russian Federation.  According to the press release, the Netherlands has instituted arbitral proceedings against Russia under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, contending that the Artic Sunrise, a Greenpeace International icebreaker which flies the flag of the Netherlands, was boarded by Russian coastguard officials on September 19, 2013, brought to the port of Murmansk Oblast, and detained.  The Netherlands also maintains that the thirty members of its crew were arrested and detained in Murmansk Oblast, with judicial proceedings initiated against them.  The Netherlands has requested that the Artic Sunrise be released and resupplied, the crew be released, all proceedings against the crew be terminated, and no other action be taken that would aggravate or extend the dispute.