In 2013 a group of 30 environmentalists from around the world, including five Brits, set their sights on a Russian oil company, Gazprom, that was about to start drilling in the Barents Sea.
Their plan was relatively simple, attach a pod to the side of the oil rig which they could protest from, not only would they halt production, they'd draw the world's attention to the impact of fossil fuels and stop what they believed was an international oil rush in the Arctic.
But instead they were shot at by the Russian coastguard and caught up in a scandal after their ship was raided by gun-toting counter-terrorism soldiers and the entire crew arrested on piracy charges, jailed for two months with the threat of a further 15 years behind bars.
Action co-ordinator Frank Hewetson, 58, who has been with Greenpeace for 30 years, managed to make a call before it was too late. A helicopter carrying heavily armed and balaclava-clad Russian solders was attempting to land on their ship and they knew they were in serious danger.
27-year-old Brit Alexandra Harris from Exeter found herself at the centre of the drama on her first protest for Greenpeace. She said: "It's like finding yourself in the middle of a James Bond movie. I was terrified. I've never had a gun pointed at me before."
For Brit Frank Hewetson, storming an oil rig in the middle of the sea was nothing new. The 58-year-old is banned from entering America and Greenland after staging multiple protests for Greenpeace against oil companies around the globe. He said: "It was an incredibly daring mission. It needed to be done."
The jailed activists saw their charges reduced from piracy to hooliganism and after just over two months behind bars, they were all freed. Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney played a crucial role in their release by writing a letter to Vladimir Putin on behalf of the Arctic 30, which was publicised around the world and helped turn the tide in their favour.
On Thin Ice: Putin v Greenpeace starts on tomorrow, BBC Two at 9pm.
