|
|
|
|
|
|
15.12.10
|
Dead Wood
|
|
|
By Rose Griffin
|
Environmental activists seem to have finally lost their battle to prevent construction of a controversial highway through the Khimki Forest. A government commission led by Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov confirmed on Tuesday that building will go ahead. The decision is the latest twist in a tale which has seen allegations of corruption spur large-scale protests, as well as attacks on activists and journalists linked to the project. It is also being interpreted by some as a blow for President Dmitry Medvedev, who halted construction in August this year.
The construction of a section of road linking Moscow and St. Petersburg running through the Khimki Forest has been controversial since its inception. And when logging began in July this year, activists stepped up their protests. Thousands of people took to the streets of the capital and the campaign quickly gained ground, even attracting support from U2 front man Bono. The activists hailed a victory a month later, when president Medvedev ordered construction to be halted and an investigation to be conducted into whether the project should go ahead.
That investigation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and looked into the transport, legal, economic and social aspects of the project. It ruled that construction should go ahead, with activists only achieving some concessions in terms of compensation for environmental damage.
Allocating a budget of four million rubles ($133,000) to this end, the commission ruled that 500 hectares of trees should be planted to compensate for the 100 hectares felled to make way for the road. There will also be restrictions on construction of gas stations on the stretch of road that passes through the forest and measures taken to minimize sound pollution to the local environment. But it remains to be seen whether these measures will be implemented and campaigners are gearing up for new protests.
One of these is Evgenia Chirikova, coordinator of the campaign to defend Khimki Forest. She told Russia Profile that campaigners will continue to fight against the project and that the protests against construction of the road will restart. “We are not giving up. We’re organizing a protest on January 15, and there will be other demonstrations before then,” Chirikova said. She also confirmed that the group has filed a case in the European Court of Human Rights to try and block construction. Chirikova said that 70 hectares of forest have already been cut down.
The commission estimated that the 650-kilometer road linking Moscow and St. Petersburg will be finished by 2014, with the stretch that passes through the forest scheduled for completion in 2013. It examined a potential alternative route, but judged that this would drive the finish date back a further three years and add an estimated five billion rubles ($166 million) to the price tag.
An employee of VINCI, the French company contracted to construct the road, said that the atmosphere within the
firm is quite secretive, and that he gets his information about construction from the press. Wishing to remain anonymous, he said that “talks about the road are taking place at a high level, behind closed doors.”
He added that he has had very little contact with activists and was not aware of any campaign led by them against the company. This is despite calls from environmentalists and left-wing political parties both within Russia and abroad to direct protests at the French company.
When President Dmitry Medvedev halted construction of the highway earlier this year, raising activists’ hopes that the project might be scrapped altogether, he also contradicted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a long-time supporter of the project. Former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Moscow Region Governor Boris Gromov have also expressed their support for the road.
The project’s continuation despite significant opposition from the local community combined with high-level backing has led to accusations of corruption. This, in turn, has led to attacks on activists and journalists investigating the murkier aspects of the project. Earlier this fall, activist Konstantin Fetisov was attacked.
The most severe attack linked to the project was on Mikhail Beketov, a Khimki-based journalist. Nearly killed in the assault, Beketov remains in a wheelchair and was successfully sued by Khimki Mayor Vladimir Strelchenko for defamation in September, although the ruling was overturned last week.
One of the theories about who ordered the near-fatal beating that journalist Oleg Kashin endured in Moscow in November also implicates powerful people linked to the project. One of the first articles written by Kashin since the attack appeared in the New York Times on December 11. The piece, which described the attack, expressed skepticism that the perpetrators would ever be caught, and outlined his main theories on who was behind the attack. While his work on Khimki Forest was mentioned alongside the resentment from Pskov Governor Andrei Turchak, he focused on pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi. |
| The source |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The virtual community for English-speaking expats and Russians
