Environmentalists are convinced that President Putin is the only one able to give Sochi a lead in the Olympic race.
Photo: Alexey Kudenko
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Environmentalists Slam Sochi’s Olympic Bid
WWF’s Moscow director has sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin warning that works to support Sochi’s bid to host the 2014 Olympics are violating environmental law to benefit someone’s business interests. The Russian environmentalist has accused the Economic Development Ministry of destroying wild life reserves and called on the Russian leader to step in. The news appeared one week before Olympic officials will come to the city to examine the bid.
Igor Chestin, director of WWF Russia and member of the Russian Public Chamber, has warned Vladimir Putin that Sochi’s bid to host the Winter Olympic Games is “in threat” because “flagrant violations of environmental requirements”. Mr. Chestin referred to the federal program to develop Sochi as a ski resort which did not go through the compulsory state environmental expertise. The program was adopted last June with the total of 314 billion rubles allocated to prepare the city for the Olympics.
The territory of the Sochi National Park is being developed illegally since the development program did not go through the expertise, Mr. Chestin notes. He says that the park’s “especially valuable sections” are not mentioned in the program as protected. WWF director accuses the government of selling the lands in interest of certain private firms. The land sale often has nothing to do with the run-up to the Olympics, Igor Chestin notes, citing examples of golf clubs or hotels being built in the wildlife zone. The Economic Development and Trade Ministry is ultimately responsible for the “half-legal distribution” of land, the letter says.
Last April President Putin ordered to move the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline far away from the Lake of Baikal under the pressure of environmentalists. Igor Chestin has urged the president to launch environmental expertise for the Sochi program and ban any development in the Sochi National Park.
Mr. Chestin’s letter was released one week before the visit of the IOC’s evaluation committee to Sochi. Saying Sochi’s bid for the Olympics is jeopardized, WWF Moscow director apparently meant that environmentalists would brief Olympic officials on the problems unless the Russian president takes action.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 14, 2007
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