A GREENPEACE protest ship stormed by the Russian military is being towed to the country's extreme northwest with two Australians among a group of activists held on board.
Russia's FSB security service, which controls the border guards who seized the vessel, has accused its captain of carrying out "unlawful activities".
But Greenpeace says the Arctic Sunrise was sailing peacefully when security forces dropped by rope from helicopters illegally boarded the ship and arrested its crew at gunpoint early on Friday morning.
Russian border authorities said they were towing the boat to the port of Murmansk, 1485 kilometres north of Moscow.
The journey is expected to take three days, they said.
"The decision was taken that the Arctic Sunrise will be taken to the port of Murmansk for further legal procedures," a spokeswoman for the region's border guards controlled by FSB told the RIA Novosti news agency.
She said the ship's captain had already been questioned but a full investigation would happen when the ship reached port.
Greenpeace Australia chief executive David Ritter says Australian Colin Russell and British-born Alex Harris, a permanent Australian resident, are among the 28 activists detained on the Sunrise.
Ms Harris managed to radio back an SOS just after the ship was overrun.
The workers' detention has come as a shock, Mr Ritter said.
"It's a well-established principle that you can sail peacefully through international waters without having a nation state send its security forces to board your ship and arrest your crew at gunpoint," he told AAP.
The ship was three nautical miles inside international waters when boarded, Mr Ritter said.
One of the detained activists, Roman Dolgov, says he and his colleagues have been accused of "terrorism".
"We are facing quite serious accusations: of terrorism and carrying out illegal scientific research," he said from the ship.
Russia has accused Greenpeace of "aggressive and provocative" behaviour, saying the activists attempted to "infiltrate" the Prirazlomnaya oil platform owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, in the Barents sea.
Greenpeace acknowledged two activists did try to get aboard the rig on Wednesday but denies their behaviour was aggressive.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is seeking information from Moscow about the incident, which occurred while Greenpeace was protesting oil exploration by Gazprom, the world's largest gas company, in the Arctic.
DFAT wants "further information from Russian authorities to ensure the welfare of the Australian citizen and the permanent resident", a spokesman told AAP.
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