Watchdog

Several dozen Russian journalists have rallied in St. Petersburg for the release of a Russian photographer detained along with the crew of a Greenpeace ship during a protest against Arctic oil drilling.

During the October 13 protest, blindfolded photographers and other journalists held placards reading "Who is next?" and "Photographer is not a pirate."

Denis Sinyakov was photographing the Greenpeace protest -- which included an attempt to scale a Gazprom oil platform -- when he was detained, along with 29 Greenpeace activists last month.

EXPLAINER: Five Things To Know About Greenpeace's Russia Drama

They were detained by the Russian Coast Guard on piracy charges after several activists tried to scale a Gazprom oil drilling platform.

They could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.

The group have been placed in pre-trial detention in Murmansk until late November.

A court has turned down pleas to release Sinyakov and others on bail.

International rights groups and the Dutch government, whose flag the Greenpeace icebreaker "Arctic Sunrise" was flying, have challenged the Russian actions.

The chairman of Russia's Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov, has said there is "not the slightest basis" for piracy charges in the case.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the environmental protesters' actions constituted a crime but conceded on September 25 that "they are not pirates."

Based on reporting by AFP and ITAR-TASS

Police in St. Petersburg have detained 67 people after clashes broke out at a gay-rights protest in the northern Russian city.

Some 20 gay-rights activists with rainbow flags and banners reading "Stop homophobia in Russia" and "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" gathered in Russia's second city on October 12 to mark International Coming Out Day.

But they were met by a group of dozens of Orthodox activists who occupied the site of the planned gay-rights rally and fighting started between the two groups.

One of the organizers of the gay-rights demonstration, Natalia Tsymbalova, said, "The homophobes broke up the action with the help of police."

Russia has seen a surge in attacks on the gay community since a law was passed in the country criminalizing the distribution of pro-homosexual propaganda allegedly directed at minors.

Based on reporting by Interfax and Reuters