Russian Environmentalists Skeptical As Spy Chief Blames Al Qa’idah For Wildfires

(Interfax – October 3, 2012) Russian environmentalists have poured cold water on claims by the head of the country’s main security service that Al-Qa’idah was responsible for forest fires in a number of countries across the European Union over the summer.

In remarks reported by the privately-owned Interfax news agency on 3 October, Aleksandr Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), said that extremist websites were giving information on which regions arsonists should target and how to cover their tracks.

Nikolay Shmatkov, the World Wildlife Fund’s coordinator for forests policy, told Interfax later the same day that he doubted Bortnikov’s statement was true. “There is no doubt whatsoever that the fires in the Mediterranean were caused by humans. Ninety per cent of the fires were the fault of people – either annual agricultural burning or carelessness,” he said. “But I can’t say to what extent Al-Qa’idah were involved, to what extent they need to direct their resources not against the Americans, but against the Greeks and the Spaniards. I take a sceptical view.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Greenpeace Russia said he had little reason to believe Bortnikov’s claims. “I don’t really believe the idea that the fires were caused by terrorists,” said Ivan Blokov, the NGO’s programmes director. “Both in the European Union and in Russia, fires are mainly caused by humans. Naturally occurring fires account for no more than 5-10 per cent. Human activity – a discarded cigarette, an abandoned bonfire, a bottle containing some liquid. This is about people being careless and ignoring some obvious rules.”

Blokov added: “I’m not going to take it on myself to assess the political or intelligence aspect of this statement. But, overall, the number of fires in the European Union and the area of forests affected by fire are much less than in Russia, where there’s been no talk of fires being started deliberately.”

Asked by Interfax for a response, Yevgeniya Chirikova, an environmental activist who came to prominence when she led a campaign against the construction of a motorway through forests on the outskirts of Moscow, said: “Of course I don’t believe it… So are they saying the tsunami in Japan was also their work?”