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The problems of environmental activism in Russia

20 Nov 2014

Former fellow Angelina Davydova writes:This autumn, in cities worldwide there were climate-themed marches to tie in with the Ban Ki-Moon UN summit, the most of important of which was a 400-thousand-strong demonstration in New York; and Russia too passed a series of measures. On 23 September, environmental activists from Moscow and Moscow Region pressure groups, together with Russian campaigners from the international 350.org movement, held a meeting in Moscow to publiсise their demands made to the official Russian delegation at the summit. These included: Cancelling tax perks for mining companies, and subsidies for Arctic offshore development Stimulating the development of renewable energy Halting the felling of protected forests for infrastructure construction; prohibiting the mining of minerals in fertile soil, the cancellation of development plans for nickel deposits in the Voronezh region. In St Petersburg, local Greenpeace campaigners and volunteers joined the international day of action by drawing a huge 'portrait' of the Earth on the asphalt in the centre of the city. But the climate summit itself was very little reported in the Russian media: only one daily paper published an analysis of the proceedings, while some online resources simply reprinted translated material from international media outlets. 

View the full article on openDemocracy.net