Russian Earth Day a Pro-Democracy, Anti-Nuclear Force

MOSCOW, Russia, April 24, 2001 (ENS) - Earth Day in Russia is centered on a roundtable Thursday covering the global problems caused by the nuclear industry. Organized by environmentalists, human rights groups and members of the independent press, the roundtable will take place at the Sakharov Museum in Moscow.

Politicians, speakers from the nuclear industry and representatives of the anti-nuclear movement will all participate.

Political speakers include Igor Artemiev, a Duma deputy of the Yabloko party, who is beginning to look like a frontrunner in the current St. Petersburg gubernatorial campaign.

Russia's Balakovo nuclear plant (Photo courtesy U.S. Dept. of Energy)

Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, former chairman of the Russian State Environmental Committee under Boris Yeltsin, will also participate.

Radio Liberty has reserved time for coverage of the roundtable. One of the organizers, Vladimir Slivyak, director of the national anti-nuclear group EcoDefense, says the roundtable is a democratic activity to counter this month's takeover by the government of the last independent television station, NTV, and an independent newspaper.

On April 15 the environmentalists protested "together with the rest of society," Slivyak said, "but so far state violence was stronger than non-violence of the opposites."

Russia's Ministry of Atomic Power (Minatom) appears to be launching new attack on environmental actvists. The agency has issued four statements, an unusually large number, to the media this month in response to EcoDefense actvity, all heavily critical.

Head of the Minatom press service, Yury Bespa, wrote, "With lack of arguments against this bill, Russian enviro-groups are raising the issue of corruption in Minatom."

Vladimir Slivyak campaigning for nuclear responsiblity in Voronezh during the summer of 1999 (Photo courtesy EcoDefense)

On April 13, the weekly publication "Vek," officially an independent newspaper, but 100 percent subsidized by Minatom, published a letter signed by dozens of pro-nuclear scentists, medical and other experts which blames several activists including Slivyak for damaging Minatom's business reputation.

Minatom characterizes the anti-nuclear activists as being supported financially by Western corporations and governments for their work.

But Slivyak maintains that changing Russian law to permit the import of nuclear waste is dangerous for the Russian people, especially those who live near nuclear facilities where Russian waste still poses a public health danger. The work of EcoDefense is by and for Russian people, without reference to western influences, he says.

Ecodefense, which started in 1990 in Kaliningrad, is organizing an anti-nuclear Earth Day activity there, also on Thursday, the 15th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986.

A concert and an exhibit of childrens' pictures will be held to remember the victims and to give greetings to survivors of the catastrophe, many of whom moved to Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea in western Russia because their homes were contaminated with radioactivity from the explosion and fire at Chernobyl.

The city administration of Kaliningrad is providing free technical equipment for this event and supporting this envronmental activity.

Cooling towers at the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant (Photo by Alexander Sorin courtesy U.S. Dept. of Energy)

In the southwestern Russian city of Voronezh, EcoDefense is organizing a roundtable with experts who will discuss issues related to the Voronezh nuclear plant. Especially important will be discussion on when the plant's old nuclear reactors will be shut down. It is the intent of Minatom to extend the time of reactor operation, which is seen as the main threat to the region's environment.