MOSCOW » The Russian Coast Guard says a Greenpeace ship it stormed after a protest against oil drilling in Arctic waters is being towed toward the nearest port.

It said today that the ship’s captain refused to operate the Arctic Sunrise, so a Coast Guard ship has arrived at the scene to tow the ship to the nearest port, in the city of Murmansk. The trip will take three to four days.

According to Greenpeace, 15 armed men boarded the ship on Wednesday, aggressively herding 29 activists into one compartment. The vessel’s captain was held separately on the bridge, said Faiza Oulahsen, one of the activists aboard the vessel.

A day earlier, two activists were arrested following an attempt to board an offshore drilling platform belonging to state natural gas company Gazprom.