Russia has experienced a “legislative rollback” to serve industrial interests. This has allowed industrial companies to evade responsibility for pollution and the barbaric destruction of nature. Pressure on civil society increased radically, with the banning of major Western and independent Russian media, as well as international environmental NGOs. Many of them were declared “undesirable”. Russians face long prison sentences for cooperating with them. Nevertheless, civil society actors continue their work. In some cases, their activism has been successful.

Russia, with its highly polluting mining, oil, nuclear, and chemical industries that are critically dependent on imported components, has already seen an increase in industrial accidents. The shadow tanker fleet, created to evade  sanctions, poses a catastrophic threat to the waters of European countries. The Arctic Ocean is already suffering from the consequences of frequent pipeline ruptures, which by 2022 occurred every hour. In the interests of corrupt officials and the high-ranking hunting lobby, the boundaries of  protected areas are being altered. This leads to the destruction of ecosystems, threatens global biodiversity conservation and threatens the survival of rare and endangered wildlife species.

The Russian state ideology denies anthropogenic climate change, exacerbating global environmental problems and hindering international efforts to address them. This denial leads to inaction in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, threatening not only Russian but also global environmental security.

Regardless of Russia’s economic situation and the extent of its isolation, significant problems will remain. The impact on the global climate, transboundary pollution, threats to biodiversity and the increasing risk of major industrial accidents need to be closely monitored.

Despite the Putin regime’s efforts to hide critical information about these processes and disasters, we are already witnessing and reporting signs of a worsening situation.

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