[2] Safety concerns have been raised about Prirazlomnoye platform, citing use of decommissioned equipment (the 1984 TLP upper section of the rig), however Gazprom's oil spill response plan for Prirazlomnaya was renewed in 2014,[3] and most questions found their answers.

[6] In June 2000, Gazprom and German energy company Wintershall signed a memorandum on cooperation in developing the Prirazlomnoye field.

The Russian Ministry of Emergency confirmed that Gazprom's oil spill response plan expired in July 2012, making any drilling the company undertakes in the Arctic illegal until a new one is submitted and approved.

[19][20] On 24 August 2012, a group of Greenpeace activists under Kumi Naidoo scaled the platform and put up a banner "Don't kill the Arctic".

[21][22] On 18 September 2013, Greenpeace's ship Arctic Sunrise circled the Prirazlomnaya oil rig while three crew attempted to board the platform.

The Russian government has intended to charge the Greenpeace activists with piracy, which carries a maximum penalty of fifteen years of imprisonment.

Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said the Netherlands had applied to the UN's Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which resolves maritime disputes between states.