Putin not to interfere in probe over Greenpeace activists

President Vladimir Putin is aware about a letter sent to him by Greenpeace, but he cannot influence the investigators, the Kremlin said Friday. "President (Putin) has expressed his point of view which by no means can be a ground to influence the investigation in any way," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Putin does not intend to interfere in the investigators' work, saying such work is beyond responsibilities of the head of state, he added. The Russian Investigative Committee (IC) said Wednesday that the authorities have presumably found drugs and duel-purpose equipment on board Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise ship, whose crew has been in detention for attacking an oil rig in Russia's exclusive economic zone. Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said the activists from 18 countries could face more serious charges. Peskov said the letter, from Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo, has been delivered to the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to the Greenpeace website, the letter states that "the Arctic is melting before our eyes, and these brave activists stand in defiance of those who wish to exploit this unfolding crisis to drill for more oil." Thirty environmentalists have been detained in mid-September and charged with piracy after they tried to board an oil platform and stage a protest against oil extraction on the Prirazlomnaya platform in the northern Pechora Sea of Russia's exclusive economic zone.