Norilsk – Johnson's Russia List

Russian Company Pays Largest Legal Award In History — Almost $2 Billion — For Devastating Arctic Fuel Spill

March 11, 2021 JRL Russia List Arctic, Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment

File Photos of Law Books and Gavel, adapted from image at fjc.gov

… [T]he Krasnoyarsk City Court of Arbitration ruled that almost all of the sum, the largest legal award in Russian history, must go to the federal treasury […]

JRL NEWSWATCH: “An oil spill in Russia’s Arctic exposes risks for Moscow’s Far North plans” – Washington Post/ Isabelle Khurshudyan, Andrew Freedman

July 28, 2020 JRL Russia List Arctic, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment

Map of Arctic Highlighting Permafrost, adapted from image at nasa.gov

“Thawing permafrost in the rapidly warming region leaves Moscow’s ambitious Arctic expansion proposals literally on shaky ground.” “… [S]urg[ing] … climate change in interior Russia – more than three times the global average – is throwing new risks in the way of … Putin’s Far North agenda, among his top domestic initiatives. A key danger is … more infrastructure atop […]

RUSSIALINK: “Russia’s Arctic Environmental Disasters” – Moscow Times

June 30, 2020 JRL Russia List Arctic, Environment

Russia’s Arctic has been hit by three separate environmental disasters linked to mining giant Norilsk Nickel in the span of a month […]

» Read more

Leave a comment Arctic, Business, Economy, Energy, Environment, Norilsk, Norilsk Nickel, Oil, Russia, Russian News, Siberia, Slider, Talnakh, Vladimir Potanin

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Siberia’s persistent, freakishly mild weather is reverberating around the world” – Washington Post/ Andrew Freedman, Isabelle Khurshudyan

June 16, 2020 JRL Russia List Arctic, Environment, JRL NewsBlog

Cartoon Sun and Thermometer, adapted from cdc.gov

“The planet just had its warmest May, continuing a streak from 2014.” “… Siberia … has seen persistently extreme temperatures since the winter … [leading] to a damaging Arctic oil spill, spark[ing] early outbreaks of large wildfires and help[ing] vault global temperatures to new milestones. … Permafrost thawing across Siberia … has caused widespread problems such as buckled roads, collapsed […]

» Read more

Leave a comment Arctic, Climate, Disasters, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Newswatch, Norilsk, Permafrost, Russia, Russian News, Siberia, Slider, Weather

JRL NEWSWATCH: “The massive Norilsk fuel spill could be linked to permafrost thaw, a growing threat to Arctic infrastructure” – Arctic Today / Melody Schreiber

June 10, 2020 JRL Russia List Arctic, Environment, JRL NewsBlog

“Infrastructure built on permafrost needs to be better monitored, experts and officials say.” “… [O]ne of the largest ever oil spills in the Russian Arctic may have been caused in part by permafrost thaw, according to the [polluting] company …. Experts … long warned that … [without] precautionary steps … such thaw could cause[] billions of dollars in damage to […]

» Read more

Leave a comment Arctic, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Newswatch, Norilsk, Nornickel, Oil, Russia, Russian News, Slider

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Diesel Spill In Russian Arctic Could Be Putin’s Exxon Valdez” – Forbes/ Ariel Cohen

June 4, 2020 JRL Russia List Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Oil, Gas, Energy, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

“… Putin ordered a state of emergency … in the Taymyr region near the Arctic Ocean, after 20,000 tons (150,000 barrels) of diesel fuel spilled from a Russian power plant into … soil and a nearby river. The accident occurred in the Siberian city … Norilsk … [T]he plant’s fuel reservoir collapsed into thawing permafrost, releasing its contents. Diesel is […]

Another Fatal Flaw in Russia’s Company Towns: Business More Powerful than the State

January 16, 2017 JRL Russia List Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, January 14, 2016) Russia’s 300-plus urban centers known as “monogorods” or “company towns” where the vast majority of the population have been the subject of episodic discussions typically triggered when the chief firm closes down, the population is impoverished, and protests arise. Then, these places where more than ten percent of the […]