Greenpeace stops operating in Russia

We express our categorical opposition to the decision of the General Prosecutor’s Office. This decision makes it illegal for Greenpeace to continue operating in Russia. Therefore, the Russian branch of Greenpeace is forced to close.

The General Prosecutor’s Office decided to announce Greenpeace International unwanted organization. If you think about this decision, it turns out that nature conservation in Russia is undesirable. What is desired? Organize production that is harmful to nature and human health, organize oil spills, pour toxic waste into clean water reservoirs, force people to breathe toxic emissions, burn coal, produce mountains of disposable plastic waste, cut down protected forests for the construction of roads and tourist facilities, do not put out fires and ignore the climate crisis?

We are sure that the recognition of Greenpeace International as an undesirable organization is due to the fact that we tried to prevent the implementation of plans destructive to nature, and in many cases we succeeded, and that hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens supported us in this work. Each time we opposed such plans, we had to overcome the hard resistance of those who wanted to make nature a source of income, who did not want to think about the future of our country and accused us of acting contrary to the interests of Russia.

What Greenpeace has done in Russia for 30 years

To say that the Russian Greenpeace is acting against Russia’s interests is to completely ignore what the organization has been doing for 30 years. Throughout this time, Greenpeace has saved unique reserves and nature parks from destruction, promoting the emergence of selective waste collection and recycling and waste reduction practices, helping to develop a unique volunteer firefighting movement that has put out thousands of fires across the country. We do everything possible so that people in our country live in favorable environmental conditions to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Can the protection of a country’s nature be contrary to its interests? The answer is obvious.

Let’s just give a few examples. On the initiative of Greenpeace, in 1995, the Virgin Komi forests were the first place in Russia to receive UNESCO protection. Not only have we helped give these forests prestigious International World Heritage status, but we have also stopped 11 attempts to start devastating gold mining in the forests of Yugyd Va National Park, which is part of the area.

For 30 years, thanks to our work, other UNESCO World Heritage Sites have appeared in Russia, for example, “Volcanoes of Kamchatka”, “Lake Baikal”. In addition, specially protected territories were created with our participation: the Kalevalsky and Ladoga Skerries national parks, the Dvinsko-Pinezhsky reserve. Together with volunteers, Greenpeace employees plant and protect forests in the Ugra National Park, put out fires in the Ladoga Skerries National Park and many other specially protected natural areas.

For more than twenty years, the Russian Greenpeace has been dedicated to the protection of Lake Baikal: it fought against poachers who destroyed the seal of Baikal, together with other organizations and supporters, led to the closure of the Baikal pulp and paper mill. Together with Greenpeace, the concerned Russians managed to insist on moving the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, which was to be located only 800 meters from the lake. Recently, employees have been investigating the problem of littering Baikal with plastics and polluting its waters with dangerous substances, and demanded a ban on logging near its shores.

Greenpeace has been fighting dangerous toxic pollution with dioxins and other chemicals for many years, including our activists who did not allow the import of hazardous waste from other countries into Russia. We found and cleaned oil from numerous spills in the north and Siberia. With our help, we managed to get Norilsk Nickel to pay a huge fine of 146 billion rubles for the 2020 Norilsk oil spill. With our help, Russia began to discuss the dangers of the climate crisis and take the first steps to combat it.

The Russian Greenpeace was the first to raise the issue of selective collection and recycling of waste in our country. After many years of our work, fighting the construction of dangerous incinerators, reviews and speeches, selective collection – although not yet the most perfect – has become our everyday life, but to help people lead a sustainable lifestyle with hundreds of volunteers across the country, we have created and are constantly updating a unique Recycling Map . She collected 30 thousand recycling points in 64 cities of Russia.

Greenpeace experts studied what pollutes the shores of Russia’s lakes, rivers and seas, conducted a nationwide public audit of coastal pollution, and performed many other studies before demanding restrictions on single-use plastic packaging. Now, such a ban may appear in the future.

Together with leading experts, we have conducted extensive research and proposed solutions to achieve climate neutrality through the development of a circular economy and waste reduction, forest protection, fire prevention, the use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.

Greenpeace has worked hard to ensure that our country’s energy sector is based on the most advanced and environmentally friendly technologies that protect nature, allow you to do without the extraction of fossil fuels, help solve the problems of the climate crisis and lay the foundations for the economy of the future. Our experts have studied the experiences of different regions that use renewable energy sources. Greenpeace has invited regions to include renewable energy development in their climate change adaptation plans and has received official support in many regions for its proposals.

Every year, our employees and volunteers saved forests and peat bogs from fires, thanks to our work, a ban on burning grass and the “Stop the fire!” action initiated by us was introduced! now organized annually by Avialesookhrana and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. With our help, groups of volunteer forest firemen have sprung up all over the country, now it’s a whole movement of highly professional volunteers.

These are just some of our achievements in nature conservation in Russia. For 30 years, of course, there were many more. We have always counted on the support of our supporters – the same inhabitants of the country as we are. Millions of people have signed our petitions, mapped information, planted forests, put out fires and helped with research. Tens of thousands of ordinary people in our country have supported us financially, because all national Greenpeace organizations exist only thanks to donations from sympathizers and do not accept funding from governments, parties or businesses.

All this work was done in the interests of the people living in Russia, in the interests of the future of our country. By destroying Greenpeace for its critical approach to environmental issues, the country loses one of its leading experts in solving environmental problems. And people who try to protect nature lose an ally who helped them and in turn relied on their support.

The liquidation of Greenpeace in Russia is an absurd, irresponsible and destructive step that has nothing to do with protecting the interests of the country.