Greenpeace crew in 'shock' in Russian jail GREENPEACE crew members detained in Russian jails for two months over their protest against Arctic oil drilling are "close to shock" over their conditions, a rights activist says. The 30 detained are being held in pre-trial detention centres in the cities of Murmansk and Apatity, which are nearly 2000 kilometres north of Moscow and above the Arctic Circle. All but four of the activists are non-Russians from countries including Australia, Britain, the US, Finland and Argentina. Russia has jailed the activists from Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise protest ship without charge pending an investigation into alleged piracy, after several scaled a state-owned oil rig on September 18. The activists have complained of cold cells and a lack of suitable clothing and food, said Irina Paikacheva, the head of a state-connected regional prisoners' rights watchdog. "Many of them are in a state close to shock," she told AFP on Tuesday after visiting the prisoners. They had never expected that they would face such consequences for their peaceful protest in a democratic state. Several of the foreign nationals have been placed in cells with Russians even though this breaches Russian law, Paikacheva added. Several non-smoking activists also complain of being placed in cells with chain-smokers. A young Finnish female activist is a vegan and unable to eat prison food, Paikacheva said, adding that prison officials had denied her request for vitamins to be delivered to her. Under Russian law, prisoners have to hand in their watches and wear shoes without laces. The Finnish activist lacks a thyroid gland and needs to take medicine regularly - hard to do without a watch. Russia's main investigative agency accuses Greenpeace activists of posing a "real threat" to the security of personnel on an offshore drilling platform in the Arctic. All 30 people who were on a Greenpeace ship, including two journalists, have been jailed for two months pending an investigation into their September 18 protest at the platform owned by state-controlled energy giant Gazprom. The Investigative Committee on Monday said charges would be filed soon, but did not specify whether it was still considering charging the activists with piracy, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.