A Russian court sent all remaining eight Greenpeace activists to jail for eight months on Sunday, they join the other 20 activists and two journalists that were sentenced to an identical detention period on thursday.

The activists will serve out their sentences in Murmansk where their vessel, the “Arctic Sunrise” is impounded.

The lawyer for Greenpeace Russia said at a press conference in Moscow after the sentencing, “Last year the activists boarded an oil rig and a ship, and this year they’ve only boarded an oil rig. Last year the border security never once reacted to what was happening, and this year they are accusing them of piracy.”

The activists scaled the Gazprom oil rig on September 18th in the Pechora Sea and were boarded by the Russian Coast Guard the next day. The Coast Guard placed the activists under arrest and towed the vessel to Murmansk where it was promptly impounded.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the detained activists during the Arctic Forum in Salekhard recently, saying, “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.”

After Putin’s statement on the matter, Russian spokesperson for the Russia Geographical Society, Vera Orlova said all permits to visit the Russian arctic had expired.

The activists, who hail from 18 different countries, are being detained until an investigation into the incident can be completed. They are being jailed without formal charges as yet.

Russia has begun what can only be called a crackdown in the Arctic Ocean as arctic sea ice continues to annually recede and the waters open up to traffic. This month, Russia’s only nuclear-powered missile cruiser along with support vessels deployed to the Novosibirsk Islands where the military base there was reopened by the military. The base will be used to check on ships traveling through the arctic passage.