Charges have been reduced for the 30 activists arrested on piracy charges after some of the protester attempted to scale the Gazprom drilling rig in Russia's Pechora Sea in mid-September.

The new charges of “Hooliganism” replace the far more serious charges of “piracy” leveled at the activists after their arrest and transport to Murmansk. The new charges have a maximum jail time of seven years as opposed to the 15 years that the protesters would have had to face.

The new charges reflect the comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said after their arrest, “They are obviously not pirates, but formally, they did attempt to board the platform,” he said. “What is clear is that they violated international law and came dangerously close to the platform.”

11 Noble prize-winners urged Russian President Putin to drop the charges of piracy in a letter sent to him last week, and that letter may have played a part in the reduction of charges that were announced today. In that letter, the authors wrote, “We are writing to ask you to do all you can to ensure that the excessive charges of piracy against the 28 Greenpeace activists, freelance photographer and freelance videographer are dropped.”

Although the charges against the 30 international protesters aboard the Arctic Sunrise have been softened, all bail requests for the Greenpeace activists have thus far been denied.

Russia also announced today that it will not be taking part in the Hamburg-based International Maritime Tribunal for the Law of the Sea over the arrests of the Greenpeace activists. Russia did add that it would remain open to settling the situation.

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