On 18 September 2013, using the vessel Arctic Sunrise, Greenpeace activists tried to access the Prirazlomnaya oil rig, which was operating within the Russian Federation‟s exclusive economic zone in the Pechora Sea between the Russian mainland and Novaya Zemlya. The following day the Russian authorities boarded and arrested the Arctic Sunrise vessel and detained its crew. The vessel and crew were subsequently transferred to the Russian port of Murmansk and the crew was charged initially with piracy and later with hooliganism. The Netherlands claimed that Russia had no right to violate the exclusive flag state jurisdiction they held over the Arctic Sunrise and instituted proceedings for, among other things, the prompt release of the vessel and her crew until and Annex VII arbitral tribunal could determine the questions regarding the lawfulness of Russia’s exercise of jurisdiction.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
In response to the detention of the Arctic Sunrise and her crew by Russia without the authority of the Netherlands (as flag state), the Netherlands requested the prompt release of the vessel and her crew as a provisional measure to their Annex VII arbitral tribunal proceedings to address the lawfulness of Russia’s exercise of jurisdiction. ITLOS supported their request for provisional measures, ordering that the vessel and her crew be release and that the Netherlands post a bond of 3,600,000 Euros via bank guarantee pending the outcome of the Annex VII arbitral tribunal findings.
Prompt release of the vessel and her crew was ordered.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
https://www.itlos.org/en/cases/list-of-cases/case-no-22/
This case demonstrates how seriously ITLOS takes the issue of flag state jurisdiction.