News
Publish date: March 11, 1998
Written by: Igor Kudrik
News
On February 26, 1998, investigators of the Russian security police (FSB) renewed the investigation against award-winning environmentalist Aleksandr Nikitin. Although expected to be finalized only by the end of March, the additional investigation was closed today.
Nikitin and his lawyers have until the end of March to read through the new case files, consisting mostly of procedural documentation.
The rush to close the additional investigation followed a television appearance of Victor Cherkesov, the FSB chief in St. Petersburg. Cherkesov called Nikitin a spy and promised that the FSB investigators would prove it. "That is why it is of our best interest to transfer the case to court as soon as possible, said Cherkesov.
The FSB insists on sending the case to court claiming that this is in their best interest. It proves once again that there will be no fair trial for Nikitin, as no fair trial would accept the charges based on secret military decrees, said Nikitin’s lawyer Yuriy Shmidt in an interview with Bellona Web.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
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.