ST. PETERSBURG. Dec 27 (Interfax) - The issue of transit visas to foreign crewmembers of the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise icebreaker will end on Friday, a Greenpeace press service representative told Interfax.
He said the crewmembers came to the Federal Migration Service's office at 10 a.m. and were being issued visas at the moment.
The source also said that all activists were prepared to continue their cooperation with Greenpeace.
As to campaigning activity in Russia, the source could not say whether the activists would be issued Russian visas again.
Greenpeace said on Twitter that eight activists left Russia on Thursday. Greenpeace press secretary Dmitry Litvinov (a citizen of Sweden) was the first to go home.
Russian border guards detained 30 Greenpeace activists staging a protest against drilling at the Prirazlomnaya oilrig in the Pechora Sea on September 19, 2013. The activists were escorted to Murmansk, and a Murmansk court sentenced them to two months of arrest. The activists were transferred to detention facilities in St. Petersburg on November 12. St. Petersburg courts released them on 2-million-ruble bail each.
The State Duma declared an amnesty on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Russian constitution on December 18. The Arctic Sunrise crewmembers and activists accused of hooliganism were found eligible for the amnesty.