Russian Official: Greenpeace Methods ‘Extremist, Loutish’

KURILSK (SAKHALIN REGION), September 24 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian president's chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said he does not respect the Greenpeace environmental organization as the methods it employs are "loutish, extremist."

"I do not respect Greenpeace for its loutish, extremist methods," Ivanov said Tuesday at a meeting with the citizens of Kurilsk, the administrative center of Kurilsky District in Sakhalin Region.

The president's chief of staff also said that he truly loves nature and told the people to "treat the ecology with great care" particularly during mining activities as "the beauty you have here is just staggering."

Earlier Ivanov harshly criticized Greenpeace for a protest by its supporters conducted at Russia's Prirazlmonaya oil rig in September 2014. The organization's members tried to climb the rig but were eventually arrested by border guards.

Russia dropped all charges against the activists in December as part of a presidential amnesty. They were facing up to seven years in jail if convicted.