The Sochi Administration puts pressure on
YABLOKO’s activist and environmentalist Suren Gazaryan who
downloaded a video from the meeting of Sochi Mayor Anatoli
Pakhomov with the residents of the Akhshtyr village (the village
has been facing environmental problems due to the construction
of the Adler – Krasnaya Polyana highway for the Olympic Games).
The administration demands from Gazaryan to delete the video
and threatens that in case of disobeying he will have problems.
On January 21 Sochi Mayor Anatoli Pakhomov and Director of
the Sochi branch of the Russian Rails Eugeny Solntsev came
to Akhshtyr so that to discuss the problem of disappearance
of water from the wells due to construction of the Adler –
Krasnaya Polyana highway. The residents of the village have
been living without water for over a year already.
The visit of the top regional officials took place only after
the activists from YABLOKO and the Environmental Watch on
North Caucasus had raised this issue before the mission of
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Mr. Theodore
Oben during consultations of UN experts with the population.
Having arrived to the meeting Anatoli Pakhomov refused to
begin a dialogue with the local residents in the presence
of the Environmental Watch activists. He snatched a photo
camera from Suren Gazaryan and gave it to his security.
Another activists of the Environmental Watch managed to record
the discussion between Gazaryan and the Mayor. The officials
demand to delete this video from the YouTube menacing with
problems.
Gazaryan was returned his photo camera only after the Mayor
left the village. The police called by Pakhomov’s security
refused to interfere.
