Monthly Highlights from the Russian Arctic, October 2024
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.
News
Publish date: November 24, 1999
Written by: Runar Forseth
News
Second day of trial:
In line with Judge Golets message yesterday, the second day of this second St. Petersburg City Court trial against Aleksandr Nikitin proceeds behind closed doors.
The rest of the week, and possibly most of the next, will be spent behind closed doors, while the court examines the alleged secrets revealed by Nikitin through the Bellona report on the radioactive threat from the Russian Northern Fleet. The main task the judge took upon hos court for this period, is to compare the FSB-alleged secrets to information available, open sources.
Enemy of the state
Shortly before the proceedings started, prosecutor Gutsan told a Russian TV reporter that he feels confident about the outcome of the trial. “I will easily reject all the objections presented by defender Schmidt yesterday,” he said, adding “Nikitin is an enemy of our society.”
Bellona Web will bring an update shortly after the session ends this afternoon.
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.
A survey of events in the field of nuclear and radiation safety relating to Russia and Ukraine.
A visit last week by Vladimir Putin and a Kremlin entourage to Astana, Kazakhstan sought in part to put Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, on good footing with local officials.
Russia is formally withdrawing from a landmark environmental agreement that channeled billions in international funding to secure the Soviet nuclear legacy, leaving undone some of the most radioactively dangerous projects and burning one more bridge of potential cooperation with the West.