Category: Environment

RUSSIALINK: “94% of Russians Are Concerned About the Environment, Poll Says” – Moscow Times

Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Russian Landfill; adapted from image at epa.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 25, 2019) Most Russians are concerned about environmental pollution, according to a recent survey conducted by Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE). Environmental issues have taken center stage at protest rallies in Russia over the past year, with citizens drawing attention to concerns including landfills, air pollution and a proposed water bottling plant at […]

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As Bad as Russian Roads are for Travel, Russia’s Waterways are Worse, Yemelchenkov Says

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, 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 12, 2019) For most of Russia’s histories, rivers and later canals were the primary transportation network over that country’s vast roadless and largely railway-less areas. Its roads have remained notorious for their poor quality, and its railroads are suffering ever more accidents. But the state of its rivers and canals has […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Can Russia Turn a Plastic Corner? As the country grapples with a waste crisis, some supermarkets have begun charging shoppers for plastic bags.” – Moscow Times/ VICTORIA DMITRIEVA

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment
Russian Landfill; adapted from image at epa.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – VICTORIA DMITRIEVA – December 17, 2018) [https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/can-russia-turn-a-plastic-corner-63850] Tatiana Chulyuskina likes to think of herself as an efficient housekeeper. For the past two years, the 32-year old graphic designer has lived by the motto, “There’s nothing that cannot be reused.” She brings her own cup with her to coffeeshops and wraps her food in re-usable packaging. […]

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Russians Will Suffer in Five Serious Ways from Global Warming, Kuvaldin Says

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 12, 2018) Russians are so accustomed to thinking about how cold the climate is in their country that they have assumed that global warming will bring mostly positive changes to their lives, but Stanislav Kuvaldin says that in fact global warning carries with it five serious risks for them, all of […]

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RUSSIALINK: “Russian Autumn Fun: The Word’s Worth” – Moscow Times/ Michele A. Berdy

Environment, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Theater, Music, Newslinks, Russian Language
File Photo of Autumn Leaves and Wooded Trail, With Patches of Sunshine or Sky, adapted from image at fws.gov by Steven C. Welsh :: www.stevencwelsh.info :: www.stevencwelsh.com

“Осень: autumn There are, I’ve heard, places on earth where weather is not a topic of conversation. I’ve heard that in some places a few degrees up or a few degrees down is pretty much the entire range of weather events. That is not Moscow. Погода (weather) can run your life, determine when and if you go outside, raise or […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “At Asia’s heart, Lake Baikal stirs Russians to protect nature” – Christian Science Monitor/Fred Weir

Environment, Far East, Siberia, APEC, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Lake Baikal and Environs Satellite Photo

“… [Lake Baikal] is the only natural feature in Russia … [with] its own law … which bans many types of industry, including mining, and chemical-based farming in a buffer zone around the lake that includes most of Buryatia. … that makes Baikal a double-edged sword for the economically stagnant republic. The region’s beauty and largely untapped resources give it […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “In Moscow’s Newest Park, All of Russia Comes Together” – New York Times/Roslyn Sulcas

Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Russia Map

“[The author visits] ….Zaryadye Park, Moscow’s first new green space in 50 years, designed by … American architects Diller Scofidio & Renfro … one of the most ambitious and expensive architectural projects in Russia in decades. … [with] numerous buildings on [a] 35-acre site … tucked under curving, plant and tree-filled slopes. Each … represents an aspect of Russia’s varied […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Misplaced Fears Over Nord Stream 2; Nord Stream 2 provides another reliable route for transporting gas to Europe, nothing more, nothing less.” – The National Interest/Klaus Schäfer, Mario Mehren, Rainer Seele

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Oil, Gas, Energy
Gas Flame file photo

“… The European gas market has … modernized and liberalized over the last decade. …. The Third Energy Package put in place a well-developed, intra-European framework of hubs that allows gas to flow freely in multiple directions from a variety of points of origin. … allow[ing] European consumers to buy gas from whomever they wish … [it] simply does not […]

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Moscow’s waste wars; The “rubbish riots” that are taking place in the Moscow area demonstrate Muscovites’ distrust of their regional government.

Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Moscow Aerial View Satellite Image File Photo, adapted from image at jpl.nasa.gov

(opendemocracy.net – Natalya Paramonova – May 3, 2018) Natalya Paramonova is a journalist. Since graduating from Moscow’s Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, she has worked in the Science, Environment and Technology department of the RIA Novosti news agency, written for the GEO Rossiya and Ecology and Law journals and worked for the Colta.ru, +1 and LookBio internet portals. She is also […]

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Pride, Loneliness in the Deep North: The Russians Who Refuse to Leave Dying Arctic City

Arctic, Environment, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Map of Arctic Highlighting Permafrost, adapted from image at nasa.gov

(Voice of America – voanews.com – Henry Ridgwell, Ricardo Marquina Montañana – March 25, 2018) VORKUTA, RUSSIAN ARCTIC – In Russia’s far north, the city of Vorkuta is slowly being reclaimed by the Arctic tundra. The front lines of this battle between the urban and natural worlds are in the suburbs, where abandoned apartment blocks emerge from the towering snowdrifts. […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Why Is Russian Gas in Boston Harbor? Environmentalists’ war on fossil fuels helps Vladimir Putin” – Wall Street Journal/Drew Johnson

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Oil, Gas, Energy, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Gas Flame file photo

“Why are some parts of America reliant on Russian natural gas, especially when domestic gas production has surged? … [it’s] political. … Massachusetts and New Hampshire [officials] blocked … the $3 billion Access Northeast Pipeline, which would have … provided fuel to three New England states. … [the] Massachusetts Attorney General … claimed the state could ‘maintain electric reliability’ without […]

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Global Warming Destroying Coastline, Critical Infrastructure in Russian North

Arctic, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment
Map of Arctic Highlighting Permafrost, adapted from image at nasa.gov

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, March 11, 2018) Global warming is leading to the erosion of shorelines in the Russian north by as much as four meters a year and to approximately one accident there every three days involving power stations, roads, gas and oil pipelines, and other infrastructure, according to analysts at the emergency services ministry. […]

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Arctic Winter ‘Warmest On Record’

Arctic, Environment
Arctic Map

(Article ©2018 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – March 7, 2018 – also appeared at rferl.org/a/arctic-winter-warmest-on-record-us-russian-scientists-report/29084098.html) The winter of 2017-18 was the warmest on record for the Arctic, U.S. and Russian scientists have reported in separate studies. The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center reported on March 6 that the Arctic winter during December, January, and February […]

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NEWSLINK: “The name of the game is cruelty. Why Russia’s State Duma wants to ban a ‘baiting stations’ in the training of hunting dogs, and why the Senate is opposed.” – Meduza

Dogs, Cats, Pets, Animals, Strays, Shelters, Environment, Newslinks, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Russian State Duma Building file photo

“In mid-January, the State Duma created a mediation committee to review draft legislation that would ban ‘baiting stations,’ where hunting dogs are trained to attack leashed wild animals. Co-sponsored by Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, the bill passed the lower house of Russia’s parliament in December 2017, before running into rare opposition from the Federation Council, which soon voted down the […]

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2017 Hottest Year on Record in Russia

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

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – December 28, 2017) The passing year was Russia’s hottest in recorded history on the back of increasingly warm winters. “The average temperature [in 2017] was the warmest of all these years,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited Roman Vilfand, the head of Russia’s meteorological center, as saying on Thursday. He forecast above-average temperatures in […]

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Russia to increase salmon aquaculture

Agriculture, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Spawning Salmon File Image, adapted from image at fws.gov

(The Fish Site – thefishsite.com – Jaroslaw Adamowski – October 30, 2017) Russia’s largest farmed fish producer, Russian Aquaculture, is developing its farm network across the country at a time when the country’s authorities are making increased efforts to develop the sector and reduce their dependency on fish imports. Russian Aquaculture currently owns cultivation rights for 30 salmon and trout sites […]

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Global Warming Threatens Moscow’s Arctic Development Plans and the Lives of People There

Arctic, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Map of Arctic Highlighting Permafrost, adapted from image at nasa.gov

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 17, 2017) Some Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin, apparently believe that global warming will work to Russia’s ultimate benefit by allowing for crops over a larger portion of its territory; but in the shorter term, global warming is undermining Moscow’s plans to develop the Far North and even threatening the lives […]

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More Than 16 Million Russians Are Breathing Polluted Air

Environment, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
File Photo of Smokestacking Spewing Cloud of Discharge

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – September 21, 2017) More than 16 million residents of Russia’s largest cities are breathing polluted air, an annual Natural Resources and Environment Ministry report cited by the Kommersant daily on Thursday suggests. Russia’s fledgling post-Soviet environmental protection movement has been hampered in recent years by corruption, lax enforcement of laws and a crackdown on advocacy […]

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NEWSLINK: “Cold weather hits Russian economy in May but recovery still on track” – bne Intellinews

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, Newslinks
Diverse Paper Currency, Coins, Line Graph

“Russia’s statistics agency released a slew of numbers for June and revised the May numbers. The bottom line is while the economy took a hit from the bad weather in May, the recovery is broadly on track and life is starting to look better for the man in the street after two years of grinding pain. Real disposable incomes and […]

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Bad Weather Blamed for Moscow’s Summer Sadness

Environment, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Theater, Music, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Aerial View of Moscow From Beyond Stadium, file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 6, 2017) An unusually cold summer is partially responsible for a spike in Muscovites calling in for psychological help, RT reported, citing the director of the Moscow Psychological Aid Service Nina Petrochenko. The service received a total of 3,870 queries in June 2017, a 14 percent increase compared to the same month in 2016. […]

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Article by Vladimir Putin published in the German business newspaper Handelsblatt (re G20)

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas
Map of Germany

(Kremlin.ru – July 6, 2017) Ahead of my trip to Germany to take part in the Summit of the Group of Twenty, I would like to share some thoughts about cooperation within the G20 framework with the readers of Handelsblatt, one of the most popular and reputable German newspapers. Over the years of its existence, the Group of Twenty has […]

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Rosatom: Climate’s new best friend; As Russia’s economic crisis continues to hit budgets, the country’s state nuclear corporation is going green to raise funds on the international level.

Environment, Nuclear Energy, Oil, Gas, Energy
Russian Nuclear Power Plant

(opendemocracy.net – Vladimir Slivyak – June 21, 2017) Vladimir Slivyak is the co-chair of the Russian environmental NGO Ecodefense and has been taking part in UN climate change talks since 1995. The recent St Petersburg International Economic Forum was widely covered by the Russian media, partly because of the eye-catching debates in which president Vladimir Putin himself took part. In […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Russia Says Still Likely to Back Paris Climate Deal Despite U.S. Withdrawal” – Reuters

Environment
Arkady Dvorkovich file photo

“… #Russia has signed the Paris climate pact but is the biggest emitter of global greenhouse gases not to have yet ratified it. Russian officials have said they need more time to assess its potential impact on their economy and have spoken of drafting a strategy for low-carbon development, fuelling fears among green campaigners Moscow may not ratify the agreement. […]

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Putin warns against rushing to condemn Trump for U.S. withdrawal from climate deal

Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
File Photo of White House with South Lawn and Fountain

ST. PETERSBURG. June 2 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said it is too soon to condemn United States President Donald Trump for the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. “I would not judge President Trump now because it was President Obama who made the relevant decisions [to join the agreement]. Perhaps, the incumbent president believes they are not […]

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Russia’s eco-activists: not out of the woods yet; It’s Russia’s Year of Ecology. But as these activists tell us, campaigning on environmental and urban issues is far from a walk in the park.

Environment, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Theater, Music, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Gorky Park file photo

(opendemocracy.net – EDITORS OF OPENDEMOCRACY – May 4, 2017) Across Russia, from Kaliningrad to Makhachkala, people have been taking to the streets to save parks, historic buildings and reservoirs. Residents of high-rise developments take the initiative to clean up their buildings. Mothers plant flowers in children’s playgrounds and fight for the right to bring their children’s pushchairs into cafes. The […]

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Most densely populated part of Russia environmentally unfavorable – document

Environment
Moscow Roads

MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) – Environmental conditions in the most densely populated part of #Russia remain unfavorable, according to the Russian environmental security strategy for the period through 2025. The strategy was endorsed with an executive order of the president on April 19. “Environmental conditions in cities and surrounding territories populated by 74% of the country’s residents are experiencing a […]

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NEWSWATCH: “In Russia, The World’s Largest Lake Takes On The World Bank and Mongolian Power Build-Up” – Forbes/ Kenneth Rapoza

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Mongolia, United Nations
Lake Baikal and Environs Satellite Photo

“The biggest fresh water lake in the world is under attack … again … this time from Mongolian power companies with help from the World Bank looking to build two hydroelectric dams that draw from an important Russian river. … the World Bank held public hearings in Russia to discuss environmental impact studies around Lake Baikal in Russia, moving two mid-sized […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin at] Working meeting with Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergei Donskoy

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment
Russia Map

(Kremlin.ru – March 20, 2017) Mr Donskoy briefed the President on measures to enhance the efficiency of subsoil resource use, develop a system of protected natural zones, and support eco-tourism. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Donskoy, we discussed with you on many occasions the question of effective subsoil use. I know the Ministry has prepared a roilange of instruments, […]

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin at] Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin

Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Siberian River, Forest, Mountain

(Kremlin.ru – March 3, 2017) Vladimir Putin met with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin to discuss the Year of the Environment in Russia, including ways to reduce emissions and the adverse impact on the environment, to introduce best available technologies, and to protect rare animals. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Khloponin, the Year of the Environment is underway in […]

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NEWSLINK: “He dared to speak the truth: Alexey Yablokov, scientific hero of Chernobyl” – The Ecologist (UK)/Chris Busby

Disasters, Environment, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, History, Soviet Union, Nuclear Energy, Oil, Gas, Energy, Ukraine
Chernobyl File Photo

“Alexey V. Yablokov (1933-2017) was a scientific giant of the post-Chernobyl age, writes Chris Busby. It was he who brought together the work of dissident Soviet scientists and revealed to the world, in English language, the true health impacts of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe. ….”

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NEWSWATCH: “General Frost to the Rescue: cold helps Russia comply with OPEC deal” – Reuters

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, Oil, Gas, Energy
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

“… Russia … in the past … accused of dragging its feet in implementing oil production and exports deals, reduced production by 100,000 barrels a day in the first few days of January … a third of the way towards the total cut Russia promised to deliver by mid-2017. … [at least partly] the result [of]  …unusually cold temperatures in […]

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NEWSLINK: “It was minus-22 in Moscow last weekend; So of course it was outdoor party time” – Washington Post/David Filipov

Environment, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Theater, Music, Newslinks
Snowy Night on Red Square with Old St. Basil's Lit Up

“… Russia takes off the week between New Year’s and Eastern Orthodox Christmas, which fell on Saturday. Temperatures began dropping Friday and on Saturday dipped past the 120-year-old record for the date to minus-22 degrees — during a weekend of outdoor events that mostly went off as scheduled. …”

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RBTH: A welcome cold war: Russia and the U.S. fight to protect polar bears

Arctic, Environment, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
File Photo of Polar Bear on Ice and Snow with Water Nearby

In late 2016, Russia and the U.S. jointly studied 180 polar bears living along the border of Alaska and Chukotka. Their findings will help develop a three-year plan to save the species. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – RAM TER-GHAZARYAN, SPECIAL TO RBTH – January 10, 2017) The Wrangel Island Reserve in the Chukchi Sea has one of the […]

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RUSSIALINK RT: “Moscow celebrates despite coldest Christmas night ‘in 120 years.'”

Environment, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Theater, Music, Newslinks, Religion
Russian Orthodox Believers Holding Candles at Cathedral at Christmas

“Bitterly cold temperatures haven’t stopped worshipers from celebrating Epiphany and Orthodox Christmas. Christian believers across the globe joined in celebrations. Those who attended midnight liturgy at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior had to bundle up for the bitter cold as temperatures in the capital dropped to about -30C on Christmas night. In Moscow Region, temperatures dropped below -32C. …”

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TRANSCRIPT: [Putin at] Meeting of Council for Strategic Development and Priority Projects

Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections
Siberian River, Forest, Mountain

(Kremlin.ru – November 25, 2016) Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and Priority Projects to discuss support for non-resource exports and environmental development. President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues. Today we will look into measures to support non-resource exports and to improve the environmental situation in the country. We need to form a […]

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NEWSLINK Awful Avalanche: “Attack of the Giant Beavers North of Moscow!”

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

“… [a] piece in Komsomolka announces that the beaver population north of Moscow has increased in the past 3-4 years. And this is seen as a good thing. The Russian word for “beaver” is бобёр (pronounced “ba-BOR”), plural “ba-BRY”. This word is inherited from the ancient Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). Linguists reconstruct the original word as something like *bʰébʰrus from the […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Antarctic marine reserves deal within reach as Russia thaws environmental stance. After five years of failed negotiations, conservations are hopeful Russia is prepared to make a deal to protect the Ross Sea and East Antarctica” – The Guardian (UK)

Antarctica, Environment
Antarctica Map

An international agreement to protect some of Antarctica’s unique and pristine marine ecosystems could be reached within a fortnight …. Delegates from 24 nations and the European Union gathered in Hobart on Monday to commence two weeks of talks at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). … If an agreement is […]

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Russia’s Largest Problem: Permafrost Lies beneath Two-Thirds of Its Territory and Two-Thirds of That Will Melt This Century

Arctic, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Environment, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, Military
Polar Map Showing Permafrost Areas, Adapted From NOAA.gov Graphic

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, October 14, 2016) The Russian government says it will invest 80 billion US dollars in developing Russia’s Far North between now and 2030, money it does not yet have (profile.ru/economics/item/111568-5-trillionov). But the biggest barrier to achieving its goals may not be financial stringencies but the impact of global warming. According to Russian […]

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Wikileak: Clinton Told Oil Majors Environmentalism Is Russian Hoax

Environment, Oil, Gas, Energy, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sergei Lavrov, Seated With Flags

(Oilprice.com – Erwin Cifuentes – October 10, 2016) In 2014, United States presidential candidate Hillary Clinton purportedly accused the Russians of running fake anti-fracking and environmentalist groups who were trying to upend major projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline. According to Sputnik International, #Wikileaks reportedly uncovered a paid-for speech made in 2014 by the former Secretary of State in […]

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Russia: the tinderbox in the struggle for a safe climate

Arctic, Environment, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Arctic Satellite Image and Map

Russia is at the forefront of the global climate change struggle. We ignore it at our peril. (opendemocracy.net – Daniel Voskoboynik – September 20, 2016) Daniel Voskoboynik is a journalist and campaigner covering human rights, ecology and migration. The Russian region of Yamal rarely makes global headlines. Despite being larger than France, its remote location bordering the Arctic Circle holds […]

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Russians Today Shorter and Weaker than Their Parents, Moscow Medical Experts Say

Environment, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics
Medical Symbol with Pole, Serpents, Wings, adapted from image at lanl.gov

(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, September 5, 2016) Russians coming to adulthood now are approximately two centimeters shorter and much weaker than those who did so as recently as the 1970s and 1980s, the result not of genetic degradation but rather of a wide variety of #environmental factors, according to researchers at the Russian Academy of Medical […]

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NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s melting ice could release more threats to humanity” – AFP

Environment, Health, Alcohol, Smoking, AIDS, Epidemics, JRL NewsBlog
Arctic Map

Anthrax, small pox and giant viruses – Russian scientists are warning of a host of threats that could be unleashed on the world as global warming melts the frozen far north …. A recent anthrax outbreak on the Yamal peninsula left a child dead, 23 people infected and the government scrambling … The most likely source of the epidemic was […]

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NEWSWATCH: “In the ‘lungs of Moscow’ forest, Russia’s civil activists make their mark; Runaway housing developments have been going up around Moscow, threatening the ‘lungs’ of the city – the ring forest around the capital. But locals have been fighting back against the project – with success.” – Christian Science Monitor/Fred Weir

Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities
Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

A diverse band of urban activists, communicating largely through social media, are combating plans to build an enormous high-rise housing development amid the forested ring around the capital  …. The protesters who make up the Mortongrad Nyet! coalition have no shared ideology, and certainly aren’t interested in criticizing the Kremlin. Yet they are redefining the limits of Russian civil society […]

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Will Chinese factories pollute the Russian Far East?

China, Environment, Far East, Siberia, APEC
Siberian River, Forest, Mountain

Experts from WWF’s Amur branch assess the environmental impact of moving certain Chinese industries to Russia’s highly forested peripheral eastern region. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ELENA FEDICHKINA, EVGENY SHVARTS, SPECIAL TO RBTH – May 13, 2016) China’s proposal to relocate some of its production facilities to the Russian Far East has provoked heated debates among many experts. […]

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Why Ukraine is at risk of forgetting the lessons of Chernobyl

Environment, History, Soviet Union, Nuclear, Missile Defense, Oil, Gas, Energy, Ukraine
Chernobyl File Photo

Thirty years after the explosion at the nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl, one Russian expert argues that, by using American fuel in Soviet-built reactors and pushing the power-producing capabilities of its nuclear plants, Ukraine is putting itself at potential risk of another disaster. (Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – ANDREI RETINGER, SPECIAL TO RBTH – […]

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NEWSWATCH New York Times: “Chernobyl’s Silent Exclusion Zone (Except for the Logging)”

Environment, JRL NewsBlog, Nuclear Energy, Ukraine
Chernobyl File Photo

  … on Ukraine’s dirtiest patch of land, Stop Corruption says, … under-the-table dealings of the bureaucrats who manage the area are flourishing … the group says, the Exclusion Zone Management Agency has turned a blind eye to … Chernobyl logging. The Zone of Alienation, as it is also known, is a rough circle with an 18-mile radius, fenced off […]

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