Forest laws in Russia

Ministry of Economic Development has prepared a draft federal law ”On Amendments to the Land Code of the Russian Federation and other legislative acts of the Russian Federation to clarify the provision of land and determine the order of their permitted use,” implying substantial revisions in the Forest Code. Reminder: this is the ministry what in 2004-2006 developed a draft Forest Code currently in force, nearly killed the Russian forestry, leading to a catastrophic rise in poverty and unemployment in rural villages and towns, made the forest land neglected and eventually became the main cause of the fire catastrophe in the summer of 2010. The quality of the new amendments consistent saved ”ministerial style” - from their introduction can only be expected deterioration in the woods. The amendments reduce the scope of forestry legislation, introduced a new term - forestry (forest industries), but do not define this term, provide a basis for ignoring the characteristics and modes of protection forests.
The project has a very large volume and requires serious study. While it is clear that this once confused the bill is not based on whatever was the concept of forestry development in Russia, is not linked with the related laws and insertion of amendments and does not reflect the views of industry experts. Details (in Russian): http://forestforum.ru/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=8651

Environmentalists in Russia have no rights

Yesterday I got a message with a report attached from one of activists of the environmental movement named North Caucasus Environmental Watch. It was a report about visiting “the Putin Residence” that is located on the shore of the Black sea. I translated a part of this report to show how powerful the hand of corrupted officials in Russia is and how few rights environmentalists have. But first, I need to say a few words about the history of the question. The residence is officially owned by a close friend of Putin, Nikolay Shamalov, who was working for a while for Siemens AG. According to the information provided by Sergey Kolesnikov, a business man who oversaw the finances of the project, about 1 billion dollars were spent on the construction. You can find the open letter with additional information, written by Kolesnikov, here (Russian) http://corruptionfreerussia.com/?lang=ru.

Impressions of visiting “the Putin Residence” on the shore of the Black sea

It is a VIP-building near the village of Praskoveevka, built at the cost of the destruction of thousands of specimens of endangered trees. The amount of energy and the natural gas spent to support the residence would be enough for a Russian town. We came to the building, which, according to the well-known letter Sergey Kolesnikov , called "Project South, on February 11 from Gelendzhik. In our team we had the journalist from the local newspaper Rimma Achimirova. Her plans were the same as ours, we were planning to see what is going on there. As we knew the project was built with serious violations of environmental laws. {..} There were eighth of us.
We didn’t see any cars on our way to the village. The only thing we saw on this stretch of road was new stretching power lines. They were impressive because of their strong steel towers. It may be suggested that the line ran to some big metallurgical plant. There are no such huge lines around there because all towns in this area are fed by simple electrical lines.
That is, the power needs of this project are many times greater than the needs of all surrounding communities together. According to unofficial information, about 20 percent of all electricity Gelendzhik county goes to the unfinished "Putin palace". Another thing that caught my eye on the road, was a gas pipe that ran to the residence from the side of Gelendzhik. Its diameter was about 80 centimeters, which would be enough to supply the gas of a cement plant. But there is no gas in the Praskoveevka as there aren't even distribution networks.
There is a checkpoint (a cabin with a barrier), which stands at fork in the roads, we got through without slowing down. Vladimir Ivanov, the head of Gelendzhik Human Rights Center, who was driving ahead of us, stopped his car by the cabin and asked the guard something. Suren (another activist) went through the open gate without stopping, and the guards paid no attention. In addition, there were no signs, informing you that the ride on this road is restricted. We didn’t see any on our trip. Two-lane road is quite narrow, but of excellent quality.
The road led us in three or four kilometers to the pass where it was possible to survey a part of the territory of "Estate". We even stopped at a parking lot to look around. Far below the sea could be seen on both sides the forest, the concrete skeletons still under construction buildings and roads. A whole town in the forest. Also we saw a tower for mobile communications. Few trucks drove by us and we saw several builders on the way. They looked with surprise at our car, apparently trying to guess if we are VIP, but there wasn’t any contact between us. The road came to some kind of underground garage. The main entrance to the Palace and the cypress avenue were farther on the road. Here we were divided. Suren and Katia Solovieva remained near the garage; I and a journalist Rima went toward the alley”.
After a while “The Watch activists and journalist were illegally detained near the palace and kept there, surrounded by Federal Protective Service staff and guards, for more than five hours. As they had not broken any laws they were not charged. The activists were abused by members of the FPS and the guards. All their stuff was taken (including phones, laptops, camcorder, navigator GPS ans documents) by guards. Items and documents have still not been returned. Illegal detention and robbery occurred in the presence of the police Internal Affairs of the resort city of Gelendzhik, which as a result of its inaction were complicit in the crime. {..} Actions of FPS staff who have committed robbery were directed to delete photos and video footage of what is happening in the Putin Residence. However, their goal wasn't achieved. Greens managed to keep memory cards with information and now you can see some photos from this place.”

More information about this can be found here
http://www.ewnc.org/node/6243