Russia is accusing a group of 30 Greenpeace activists, which includes an Oxfordshire man, of piracy.

Last week, the Arctic Sunrise ship was boarded by Russian security officers in the Barents Sea after four Greenpeace members tried to board an oil platform to prevent if from drilling.

One of the six British nationals towed back to Murmansk was 42-year-old Phil Ball, a cameraman from Chipping Norton.

Russia’s Investigative Committee will now question the activists on suspicion of committing a crime under article 227 of the Russian penal code, which defines piracy as “an attack on a ship at sea or on a river, with the aim of seizing someone else’s property, using violence or the threat of violence”.

It can be punished with a jail term of up to 15 years.