CHARGES against a Chipping Norton film-maker arrested in Russia have reportedly been dropped.

Phil Ball, 42, was one of 30 detained on September after Russian troops boarded their ship, the Arctic Sunrise.

The soldiers came on board after four Greenpeace members tried to board a Russian oil platform to protest about drilling in the Arctic.

Now the father-of-three, who had been facing charges of hooliganism, is set to see the charges dropped, according to several media reports today.

The Duma, the Russian Parliament, had earlier this month passed an amnesty for defendants charged with hooliganism.

He had been in Russia since the protest in September, and had been in prison until the recent amnesty.