| The biggest story in Russia today is the battle to tame
a national outbreak of wildfires. The flames have consumed
nearly 2 million acres of forests, farms and villages in their
path. More than 4,000 people have lost their homes. A dense
blanket of smoke and pollution has settled over Moscow; hundreds
are pouring into hospitals because of illnesses triggered
by the suffocating smog.
Russian media are focusing on government efforts to extinguish
the fires, showcasing President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin's promises to hold local officials
accountable for not preventing the devastation. What the media
are not reporting is the Kremlin's insistence, even as these
fires rage, that a centuries-old oak forest on the outskirts
of Moscow be cut down.
If you know about the destruction of Khimki Forest, it is
only because you have heard the voice of Yevgenia Chirikova,
the 33-year-old mother of two who unexpectedly has become
one of Russia's fiercest environmental activists.
The Khimki Forest is a rarity in Russia -- a publicly protected
green space. The land is said to have been one of the czars'
favorite spots for hunting boar. Boars still wander the dense
oak groves, but the wild forest has dwindled in size after
decades of development. Nevertheless, what was left received
the government's highest level of environmental protection
long ago, ensuring that it would remain free of commercial
use.
Three years ago, Chirikova took her daughters for a walk
in the woods and noticed that many trees had been splashed
with red paint. Online later, she read that Khimki Forest
had been marked for demolition. The expanse was to be clear-cut
to make way for a motorway between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Chirikova assumed this was a mistake; the land was protected,
and there were more direct routes that didn't require bulldozing
the forest. Someone needs to alert the authorities, she thought.
But it wasn't a mistake. Government officials, some with
clear conflicts of interests, stand to benefit from the project.
When she realized the demolition was indeed to go forward
-- recalling that time, Chirikova now says, "I was very
naive" -- she returned to the forest armed with fliers
to inform others about the planned construction. With support
from her community, she founded the group In Defense of Khimki
Forest. She began organizing protests, started a petition
drive and worked with local journalists to publicize her campaign.
It is safe to presume that even if the Kremlin had known
who Yevgenia Chirikova was, it never would have perceived
her as a threat. She doesn't come from a political family.
She had never attended a protest. But almost overnight a mother
on maternity leave became a grass-roots environmental activist.
In Russia, speaking out can be dangerous. Chirikova's supporters
received death threats. They were detained and arrested on
trumped-up charges. One of her colleagues, journalist Mikhail
Beketov, was brutally beaten outside his house -- and left
with permanent brain damage.
Chirikova responded by stepping up her campaign. She ran
for mayor as a single-issue candidate, forcing the incumbent
as well as Moscow's regional governor to abandon their direct
support for the highway. She brought lawsuits in Russian and
international courts. Perhaps most effectively, she lobbied
European banks to deny the Russian government roughly $750
million in financing. Ultimately, Putin was drawn directly
into the fight over the 2,500-acre forest, issuing a decree
-- that contravened Russian federal law -- to allow the construction
to go forward.
A few months ago, I traveled to Khimki so that Chirikova
could walk me through the forest she is fighting to preserve.
The ground that drizzly April afternoon was still damp from
the morning's rain. I asked, after all of her success holding
the government at bay, what she thought would be the government's
next move. "The next step is probably that they will
start building," she replied. "We are ready. It
is going to be very loud."
She was right. Last month the Kremlin sent loggers to Khimki.
They didn't have permits, so Chirikova was able to stop them
-- temporarily. Then the intimidation began. She was assaulted
and nearly run over by a thug's car. At 5 a.m. on July 23,
dozens of masked men attacked a campsite that Chirikova's
campaign had set up in the forest and beat her supporters.
The police arrived an hour later -- and arrested the activists.
Last week Chirikova was detained after holding a news conference
in downtown Moscow. She was charged with holding an illegal
rally.
While wildfires burn around Moscow, the government is mowing
down another forest. The wildfires are a legitimate natural
disaster. But the government's ineffectiveness in extinguishing
them is borne from the failings of the same authoritarian
system that seeks to bulldoze Khimki Forest. Putin has promised
to hold officials responsible, but he is the architect of
the centralized, one-party system that has eliminated any
genuine institution that can hold government accountable.
Thus, firefighters have found access roads overgrown, ponds
intended to refill trucks filled with sludge, and equipment
in disrepair.
A corrupt, unaccountable politics does more than run roughshod
over its citizens. It brings poor governance. Even after the
last fire is out, the system that permitted this summer's
devastation, and that destroyed Khimki Forest, will remain.
***
William J. Dobson, a former managing editor
of Foreign Policy magazine and senior editor for Asia at Newsweek
International, is writing a book on the challenges to democracy.
Reproduced with a kind permission of William J. Dobson.
See also:
The
original
Sergei Mitrokhin
to President Medvedev: felling of forest in Khimki is fire
hazardous. Press Release. August 5, 2010
YABLOKO
conducted a picket in support of Yevgenia Chirikova. Press
Release and a Video. July 4, 2010
Court ruled out
Sergei Mitrokhin guilty of disobeying police orders. YABLOKO’s
protest action. Press Release. July 3, 2010.
The riot police
breaks the rally of the defenders of the Khimki Forest, YABLOKO’s
leader detained. Press Release. August 2, 2010
Police begins
persecutions against the defenders of the Khimki Forest. Press
Release. July 30, 2010.
Sergei Mitrokhin
applied to Prime Minister Putin and Public Prosecutor General
Chaika in view of unlawful cutting of the Khimki Forest. Press
Release. July 30, 2010.
Police
breaks into ecologists’ camp. Press Release. July 28, 2010
Off with your
hands from the defenders of the Khimki Forest! Statement by
the YABLOKO party. July 23, 2010
Protection
of Environment
Human
Rights
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