Greenpeace has dispatched its campaigning vessel Rainbow Warrior III to block the Mikhail Ulyanov, an oil tanker owned by Russia's state oil firm Gazprom.<br /><br />Making its way to Rotterdam, Mikhail Ulyanov is loaded with the first cargo of oil from the Prirazlomnaya platform, Russia's first offshore production unit in the Arctic. <br /><br />According to the Barents Observer, the Rainbow Warrior III has left port in the Netherlands. And the green group said it expects the two vessels will meet at some point. <br /><br />Greenpeace has been a vocal critic of drilling for oil in the Arctic, which it says will lead to oil spills and could wreak havoc on the Arctic's fragile ecological system. <br /><br />In an interview with Tradewinds News, the environmental group refused to disclose further actions, saying only "something big is about to happen". "Unfortunately [we] can't let you know exactly just yet as that might scupper our plans," said a spokeswoman for Greenpeace. <br /><br />It will not be the first time Greenpeace has staged a large-scale protest against Gazprom. <br /><br />Twenty-eight activists and two journalists were jailed for two months by Russian authorities after they attempted to board the same drilling platform in September.<br />They were released before the Sochi Winter Olympics, but the vessel "Arctic Sunrise" is still in the custody of Russian authorities.
