Bellona nuclear digest. July 2024
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
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Publish date: February 8, 2009
News
The discovery apparently ratchets up the stakes independent journalists are up against in a war of threats, beatings and killings that have escalated against reporters in the past three months.
Just last month, Novaya Gazeta reporter Anistasiya Baburova, 25, and Stanislav Markelov, 34, a prominent human rights lawyer, were shot dead in central Moscow by a masked gunman who is still at large.
Venediktov found the ax on Wednesday night, the night before a nearly deadly assault on 72-year-old Yury Grachev, the editor of an opposition leaning suburban Moscow newspaper occurred. Also found on the landing outside Venediktov’s centrally located apartment was a video camera, trained on his apartment door, crudely attached to the elevator shaft with tape, said Moskovsky Komsomolets.
Venediktov is, according to the paper, away on business in Munich, Germany, and has issued no public statements on the find. The incident was, apparently, reported to the police, as the newspaper’s report on the incident was based on anonymous information from law enforcement officials.
Moskovsky Komsomolets also reported that Grachev remained in hospital in stable condition, but interviews with him and his wife indicate that police are scrubbing investigating the incident and chalking Grachev’s injuries, which include a concussion, a broken nose, and a cheek laceration, as accidental or even self-inflicted.
Moskovsy Komsomolets also carried updates on the condition of Mikahil Beketov, editor of another suburban Moscow newspaper noted for its corruption exposés and environmental leanings, who was beaten in a nearly lethal assault in November. The paper said he has undergone several operations, including neurosurgery. One of his feet and fingers from his left hand were also amputated. He is still too enfeebled to talk to investigators about his attack, the paper reported.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
Transport on the Northern Sea Route is not sustainable, and Kirkenes must not become a potential hub for transport along the Siberian coast. Bellona believes this is an important message Norway should deliver in connection with the Prime Minister's visit to China. In an open letter to Jonas Gahr Støre, Bellona asks the Prime Minister to make it clear that the Chinese must stop shipping traffic through the Northeast Passage.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has published a new report on its efforts to ensure nuclear safety and security during the conflict in Ukraine, with the agency’s director-general warning that the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station remains “precarious and very fragile.”
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.