Ecological Destruction Continues in Sochi

Good summary of the current ecological situation in Sochi, from an AFP article I caught on vancouversun.com.  Essentially, it covers the basics: that Russia is saying the gargantuan building project to prepare Sochi is "70%" finished and that this will be the "greenest" Olympics ever vs the Ecological Watch on North Caucasus saying that that ain't exactly the case:

“In general, environmental damage in Sochi is much worse than what we expected in the early stages of construction planning,” said Suren Gazaryan of the Environmental Watch on North Caucasus.

The regional NGO continues to monitor Olympic construction sites after both Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund announced they were withdrawing from the process last year.

“Right now construction crews have no oversight, they simply do what suits them, and this landslide is a good example,” Gazaryan said as he walked along a river in Sochi National Park whose shores have become encrusted with asphalt-like mud.

A mudslide from an illegal dump up the hill tore through the park and filled the river’s banks with debris from tunnel construction and other waste in January.

“Clearly leaving thousands of tons of waste on a steep hillside is not a good idea, but its convenient, and it can’t be stopped,” Gazaryan said as he picked off a chunk of the black substance for testing.

I guess you could classify leaving thousands of tons of waste on a steep hillside as "not a good idea" but, then again, this is the same country that has decided to spend over $30 billion to host the Olympics in the first place.  What I'm saying is that maybe two wrongs make a right and everything will go swimmingly in 2014.  Anyway...it's also never a good thing when, annoyed at the sham that is the never-ending meetings and promises from the Russian government to clean up their Sochi act, the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace have totally divorced themselves from this entire process of working with the government.  When two of the most devoted and tireless baby seal-saving organizations in the world deice that it's not worth it, that's bad, right?

Now, you can read the article yourself for all the gory details and/or visit the EWNC's website/facebook page/search for its vids on YouTube.  One thing I did want to point out, however, is the case of Gayane Antonova, which was touched on briefly in the article and, I think, highlights the difficulties of principled opposition to this project.  Antonova has been something of an outspoken critic of instances of waste/fraud/cutting down centuries-old pine trees.  As the story notes, when she called the local cops out to point out that, you know, Russian Railways had decided to just start laying track on the shore without any permission to do so, the cops hauled her in instead.  The charges?  Using foul language and/or hooliganism.

Fortunately, Antonova was found not guilty by the municipal courts (warning: link in Russian), which is something of a minor victory in a world where principled opposition, um, you know, sometimes gets run over by cars and flees the country.  The story of Antonova (and, again, I would like to reiterate that I am aware the the EWNC is not an unbiased source.  I would also like to reiterate that I am not a journalist.) serves merely to highlight that Russia remains an unsafe place to do business for those who attempt to speak out and who have a platform. 

Attack on City Council Member Olympic Related?

A disconcerting story just caught my attention as I was looking for a topic to write about today.  According to the anti-Russian 'Caucasian Knot,' Sochi City-Planning Councilman Valery Suchkov believes that an attack against him (he was hit by a car) on January 7 is directly related to his role as a vocal advocate for Sochi residents in the face of top-down edicts from Moscow as planning and building for the Olympic Games continues.  Suchkov, who was critical of the resettlement of locals to make way for Olympic building projects, the necessity of rerouting certain streets, etc., among other projects, remains hospitalized.  From the article:

Mr Suchkov was hospitalized with traumas on January 7 in Khosta. He was told that he had been hit by a car. Galina Suchkova, his wife, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the incident occurred not far from their house.

"Valery told me that some unknown people called him and asked [him to pick up]  some important package brought to him from Moscow," she said and added that the callers said that "they were from the post office and could not find their house; therefore, they asked him to go out to the road."

Valery Suchkov said that "an organized gang, liquidating unwanted public activists, human rights defenders and journalists who oppose and reveal corruption in Sochi and territorial bodies," operates in Sochi.

Unfortunately,  this is merely the latest in what has become a horrifying set piece in Russia: speak out against the government or government policy, prepare to be attacked, expect the government to condemn the attack while doing very little to find either the attackers or those who ordered the attacks.

Regrettably, Russia is now considered to be one of the most dangerous places in which to be an investigative journalist and Anna Politkovskaya, who reported for Novaya Gazeta on the Second Chechen war and was killed in 2006 for her exposes, remains the face of the trend.  The most recent incident, the brutal attack of Kommersant's Oleg Kashin, is believed to be tied to his reports on youth movements, as well as his digging into the proposed $8 billion road from Moscow to St. Petersburg that was to cut right through the famous Khimki forest.  There are at least two other journalists who are believed to have been attacked from exposing the corruption surrounding the construction or for covering the protests of the project.  Construction on the proposed highway has since been halted.

The Committee to Protect Journalists now believes that 52 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992; the International Federation of Journalists' report, 'Partial Justice,' cites 300 deaths and disappearances of Russian Journalists since 1993.  Regardless of the exact figure, Russia is now considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for investigative journalists.

Beyond that, as the above case Mr. Suchkov shows, even relatively obscure opposition figures face severe consequences for speaking out or highlighting controversial government plans and policies, especially as it concerns one of the most ambitious building projects in Russian history.  With more than $30 billion invested in Sochi, will principled objections be tolerated?  Sadly, the answer appears to be no.