Greenpeace activists are pointing finger at the regular
violations of the law in a Black Sea wildlife
preserve "Bolshoy Utrish" that have been taking place in the
interest of local and federal authorities.
In November 2008 the wildlife preserve became a victim of
illegal road construction that was destroying IUCN Red List plant
species and soil cover and threatened Russia's only remaining
Mediterranean-like dry forest. To preserve the unique nature of
these lands, the Russian Government issued a Resolution to
establish a federal (higher) level nature reserve. However, this
does not seem to save these lands from destruction.
The damage that the Utrish nature has suffered by now is not
calculated, yet, however already now it has surely reached tens of
thousands Euro.
The Krasnodar Region authorities have given their support to
this illegal construction presenting it as construction of a fire
road. However, facts of how this road is being built clearly
indicate that it is a high-end tourist base and a road leading to
this base that are planned here.
The construction of the road and forest cuttings was declared
illegal by the Azov-Black Sea Environmental Protection Prosecutor's
office and the Krasnodar Region Department of the Federal Service
for Environmental Supervision. The police department of the city of
Anapa launched a criminal case against illegal forest cuttings in
the wildlife preserve. The demand to stop this illegal construction
received support from the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment. This did not help, though.
This inability of law enforcements bodies to stop this
environmental crime tells us that there are influential people
behind this road construction. The full negligence of the existing
Russian legislation is a bright example of the "legal nihilism"
that President Medvedev has so many times called on to struggle
against.
"We demand that the Governor of the Krasnodar Region immediately
stop this illegal road construction and forest cuttings in Utrish,
recall all decisions to launch these illegal activities and punish
those involved", said Greenpeace spokesman Dmitry Kuznetsov.
Additional information
The road construction is going on with severe violations of the
existing Russian legislation: destruction of Red List species,
construction in a high conservation value area without approval of
the mandatory state environmental impact assessment committee.
On 1st July 2008 the Forestry Department of the Krasnodar Region
signed a forest compartment rent contract with the Foundation of
Regional Non-Profit Projects "Dar" (Gift). The Forest Committee,
subordinate to the Forestry Department, signed an agreement with
the Dar Foundation (this agreement had neither a date of signature
nor a number of official registration), which prescribed
construction of a fire forest road that would also be used to reach
the forest compartment rented by the Dar Foundation.
The shareholders of the Dar Foundation include several Russian
oligarchs, as well as German companies and even Deutche Bank that
owns 29% of the Foundation's stock.
One of the founders of the Dar Foundation is Levit Ltd. Company
that is also a principle shareholder of the Novatec Company.
Novatek belongs to the largest gas producers in Russia and a
significant part of its stock belongs to Gazprom.
No less interesting is the general contractor of the illegal
construction in Utrish. Harvinter Ltd. is a large construction
company from the former Yugoslavia. In 2006 its head, Mr. Slobodan
Obradovich, was awarded by the President of the Russian Federation
for his contribution in organizing the Russia - EU summit in
Sochi.