| Recently, President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev announced
that "technical and economic evaluation of the project
envisaging construction of a new navigation canal between
the Caspian Sea and the Azov and Black Sea basin" is
under way.
The Kremlin has decided to reanimate the project of the Kuma-Manych
waterway which was abolished in Stalin's time.
It is obvious that 450 - 600 billion rubles which will be
allotted for construction of a Eurasia canal will lead to
the following consequences:
- rich ecosystem of the Azov Sea, the Lower Don, the Kuban
and the Kuma rivers will be ruined;
- salinisation and desertification, flooding and swamps formation
of vast areas in Dagestan and Kalmykia, Stavropol and Rostov
regions will take place;
the areas of nature reserves of international importance
The Black Earth, Dagestan and Rostov will be affected.
"The ‘reformers of nature’ do not take into account
the fact that even the richest deposits of oil will be virtually
exhausted and that the capacity of the Turkish straits of
Bosporus and Dardanelles is limited and construction of a
new canal from the Caspian to the Black Sea is unable to increase
oil transportation.
The YABLOKO party believes that Kazakhstan’s "threat"
to transport oil from its Caspian fields bypassing Russia
can not be compared with the threat of catastrophic ecological
consequences for the south of Russia due to construction of
the Eurasia canal.
Sergei Mitrokhin,
Chairman of the YABLOKO party
See also:
Environmental
Protection
| 