Australian Greenpeace activist Colin Russell has been refused bail in Russia, in a decision that leaves his family pleading for action to free him.

Mr Russell, 59, a radio operator, appeared in a Murmansk court overnight for the bail hearing a month after the environmentalists' ship Arctic Sunrise was boarded by Russian security forces.

Mr Russell and the ship's crew of 30 were arrested and charged with piracy for their oil drilling protest.

In a video of court proceedings provided by Greenpeace, Mr Russell appeared calm, and at one point joked that his jailers had lost the key to the first set of handcuffs put on him.