Groundbreaking analysis of Putin’s destabilisation of environmental, social and political systems also sends defiant signal following a Kremlin crackdown on environmental and human rights groups in the wake of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine

Amsterdam, Netherlands, 6 October 2025 – Russia’s descent into an entrenched war economy is a warning to the world, a new Greenpeace International report shows, with a ‘troika’ of fossil fuel extractivism, authoritarianism and militarism at the heart of Russian regime marking the collapse of the country’s environment, biodiversity, society and international relations amid its ongoing criminal war in Ukraine.

The report, entitled ‘Fossil Fuel Empire: The Environment of Post-2022 Russia and the Kremlin’s Threat to Domestic and Global Stability and Sustainability’, is the first of its kind to systematically analyse transformations in Russia’s environmental governance, climate policy, biodiversity and socioeconomic and political dimensions, and represents a major milestone in the environmental movement’s resistance to state oppression.[1] 

Drawing on hundreds of sources gathered from outside Russia after the post-2022 crackdown, it is also the first to bring together scattered data into a coherent picture, revealing the desperate state of a country where economic sanctions, spiralling corruption, sabotage of international conventions, and entrenched fossil fuel dependence are driving devastation in Ukraine, Russia, and beyond.

Mads Christensen, Greenpeace International Executive Director, said: “The importance of this groundbreaking reporting cannot be underestimated. It comes as war-waging regimes attempt to completely ignore international law and environmental safeguards, and to silence dissent with repression and fear. But even under brutal repression, solidarity grows – and so does resistance.”

The work of countless experts in Russian climate, biodiversity and politics, this reporting goes deep on the many impacts of Putin’s militaristic petrostate – from subversion and evasion of international sanctions, to sabotage of international conventions and the military seizure and weaponisation of  Europe’s largest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia, posing a threat to the entire continent.[2]

The report outlines how Russia promotes its extractivist agenda in international fora including the UNFCCC, BRICS+, UNESCO and the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, prioritising profits and power above all else while dismissing “justice” and “inclusivity” as fads. Russia also uses its so-called “peaceful atom” nuclear industry as a lever of influence over 50+ countries it now has nuclear energy agreements with, and as a means to weaponise nuclear energy infrastructure abroad, in addition to probable war crimes at Zaporizhzhia.[2] 

Foreign financing through exports of fossil fuels and other resources like timber has funded Russia’s war chest and entrenched its destructive behaviour.[3] While international sanctions have had some effect, many countries continue to buy Russian oil and gas, with a sanctions-dodging ‘shadow fleet’ of ageing, unsafe tankers carrying exports that dramatically increase the likelihood of accidents and oil spills.[4] However, despite widespread and systematic repression of domestic dissent, the environment remains one of the few topics that arouse sustained public interest in Russia and continue to generate protest, including direct confrontation. 

Mads Christensen added: “Governments and powerful elites have attacked Greenpeace and our movement allies for decades. Forty years ago, French government agents bombed a Greenpeace ship for protesting nuclear weapons testing. Twelve years ago, Russian special forces stormed another in the Arctic and arrested the crew, known as the ‘Arctic 30’. And in 2023, the Kremlin shut down Greenpeace in Russia, ending a proud 30-year history defending the environment, human rights and peace. But we didn’t give up and we grew stronger. Then and now, we continue speaking the truth about those who plunder the planet for profit and power.”

ENDS

Link to report: http://greenpeace.org/international/russia-fossil-fuel-empire

Notes:

[1] Fossil Fuel Empire: The Environment of Post-2022 Russia and the Kremlin’s Threat to Domestic and Global Stability and Sustainability http://greenpeace.org/international/russia-fossil-fuel-empire

[2] Seizing Power: Rosatom’s complicity in occupation, torture and nuclear safety breaches at Zaporizhzhia NPP https://truth-hounds.org/en/cases/seizing-power/# 

[3] Blockade of key European entry point for liquified gas from Russia and the US https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/79002/greenpeace-blockade-russian-liquified-gas-import-eu-harbour-almost-30-hours/ 

[4] Analysis of Russian shadow fleet data reveals risk of oil disaster off German coast https://www.greenpeace.de/publikationen/2409_Greenpeace_Investigation_Shadow_Fleet.pdf

A selection of pictures used in the report can be found here: https://media.greenpeace.org/Detail/27MZIFJRW5Q74

Contacts:

Greenpeace in Russian, [email protected] 

Greenpeace International press desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), [email protected]