Russia has dropped piracy charges against 30 Greenpeace activists, replacing them with hooliganism charges, according to officials.
The new charge has a maximum penalty of seven years rather than 15. Greenpeace says it is still "wildly disproportionate".
Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise vessel was seized by Russian forces as activists tried to scale an offshore oil platform.
All 30 people on board were detained.
Two of them are freelance journalists.
So far all bail applications in the case have been refus
The Russian authorities may be calculating that "hooliganism" is a more credible indictment than "piracy", making it easier for Moscow to argue to the world that Greenpeace committed a crime.
All 30 people who were on board the ship are in pre-trial detention in the northern port city of Murmansk until late November. They have complained of being held in harsh conditions.
They were detained when Russian security sources stormed the ship five weeks ago following a protest against drilling for oil in the Arctic.
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