Monthly Highlights from the Russian Arctic, March 2024
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.
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Publish date: February 17, 2010
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Senorusov, in his long human rights resume, is also a commission member Leningrad Regional Government’s Institute for Civil and Human Rights and the chairman For Krasnaya Gorka of the Military History Society.
The issue is a case study in case study in the continued petty official harassment of environmental activists in Russia, even in the wake of President Dmitry Medvedev’s appearance at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, where he assured those assembled that Russia would be taking an active role in reducing world emissions – in part by preserving the country’s vast swathes of forest and protected lands.
A release distributed by the Green Party faction said the pressure to relieve him of his post resulted from the personal position Senotrusov took on “Segodnya” (“Today”), Russian network NTV’s flagship news programme, in which he criticised local authorities for illegally selling land plots on nature preserves to build large seaside summer homes for local functionaries.
In the programme, say his colleagues, Senotrusov also explained the environmental problems of Lebyazhe, a small village on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea some 50 kilometres west of St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, authorities have also threatened to liquidate a museum exposition, a children’s club and other of his brainchildren, including the Krasnaya Gorka museum, his colleagues said in their release.
A few days later after the scandalous broadcast, the head of the Lomonosov district of the Leningrad Oblast was charged with firing Senotrusov “by any means necessary,” said Artyom Andreyev, the editor of the regional natural history website “Krasnaya Gorka.”
Andreyev reported that it was Senotrusov’s efforts that saved the Krasnaya Gorka fortification – a century old fort dating back to World War I, which also played a key role in the Russian Revolution and World War II – from destruction and looting. Senotrusov also initiated the first municipal nature preserve of Polyana Bianka, a Russian historical site. For his efforts, Senotrusov has received many prestigious local and national awards, which, said Andreyev, are playing no role in mitigating the persecution against him.
“As became apparent, by February 10th the regional administration had threatened to cut financing for the Centre for Children’s Creativity in Lebyazhe (established by Senotrusov) by one million roubles ($33,000),” read the statement. “Aside from that, it was unequivocally announced that, ‘we don’t need such a centre,’” the Green Fraction text continued.
“All of Senotrusov and local activists’ work and achievements now hangs under the threat of liquidation because of the local administrations rash decision to get rid of an unwanted person,” Senotrusov’s contemporaries in the Fort Krasnaya Gorka society said in an appeal to the speaker of the Leningrad Regional Legislative Assembly, Ivan Khabarov. On February 13, the Lebyazhe local authorities issued an order to temporarily shut off electricity to Senotrusov’s exhibit at the fort.
“We are seeing another example of the sad practice of the fight of authorities against a true citizen activist,” said Nikolai Rybakov, executive director of the Environmental Rights Centre (ERC) Bellona, Bellona’s St. Petersburg office.
According to Rybakov, Leningrad Regional Governor Valery Serdyukov must get involved, as he promised during a recent broadcast from the St. Petersburg studios of Ekho Moskvy, Russia’s national independent radio.
“Senotrusov is engaged in charitable activities and the authorities must support him, not fight him with such reproachful methods,” said Rybakov. “We consider important the publicity brought to what happened and will do all possible for the defence of Alexander.”
Translated and edited by Charles Digges
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has told the United Nations atomic energy watchdog that Russia plans to restart Ukraine’s embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, currently occupied by Russian troops and technicians, fueling worries about a serious nuclear accident on the front lines of a grinding military conflict.
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