An international maritime court Friday ordered Russia to release a Greenpeace ship and its 30-strong crew seized mid-September in exchange for a 3.6-million-euro ($A5.3 million) bond.
The German-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, based in the northern port city of Hamburg, also called on Moscow to allow the detainees to leave Russia on receipt of the bond.
The ruling by the tribunal, established by the United Nations to help settle maritime disputes between states, followed a complaint by the Netherlands.
The court ordered the Netherlands to pay the bond or other financial security.
Russian coastguards boarded the Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise icebreaker on September 19 after two Greenpeace activists scaled a state-owned Gazprom oil platform to protest oil exploration in the Arctic.
Authorities arrested the crew members, who included two journalists and activists from 18 countries, including Australia.
The tribunal "ordered that the vessel Arctic Sunrise and all persons detained in connection with the dispute be released and allowed to leave the territory and maritime areas under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation upon the posting of a bond in the amount of 3.6 million euros", a statement summarising the verdict said.
In a statement following the verdict, the Russian foreign ministry said the Greenpeace case fell outside the jurisdiction of an international maritime court.
"The Russian side proceeds on the basis that the situation with the Arctic Sunrise does not fall under the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea," the ministry said.
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