Nikolai Rybakov’s Facebook page, 10.08.2021

BURYATIA, THE IRKUTSK REGION

The shore of Lake Baikal

Yesterday was my final working day in Eastern Siberia.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

When I was going to Lake Baikal, I was convinced that the situation with the garbage on the shore had changed and garbage was no longer there. Unfortunately, it had not changed. Therefore, before leaving Baikalsk for Buryatia, together with Grigory Gribenko and colleagues from the Irkutsk branch of Yabloko, we held a clean-up of the shore. The main garbage – as usual left by tourists – is plastic bottles and packaging, glass, disposable dishes, cans, and food leftovers. We sorted the garbage into fractions to be recycled, which was done later in Ulan-Ude.

Cleaning up the shore of Lake Baikal is everyone’s contribution to saving the lake. But there are also systemic solutions, which I will not tire of repeating. It is necessary to establish a system of separate collection and recycling of waste. It is necessary to introduce a system of collateral value of containers. If each glass or plastic bottle were accepted at recycling points for 30 – 40 roubles, then there would be many who would like to remove this garbage before us and make money on it. Certainly, it is important to educate people, but economic instruments should not be neglected.

The Selenginsk village, Buryatia

The next point of our route was the Buryat village Selenginsk, which was built as a village for the workers of the Selenginsky pulp and cardboard mill.

The latest federal news from the village was also related to garbage. Residents of the village turned to the President’s television live line regarding the landfill near the village: “the landfills are filled up, the garbage burns scattering around.” Vladimir Putin reacted: “Such egregious cases require a prompt response, we will try to mark it for ourselves and react accordingly together with the authorities”. And what was the reaction? The landfill was covered with earth, the garbage was taken out from the sites, they are empty, but with terribly smashed old bins.

This was another example, when in order to resolve the issue of garbage disposal in a village, you need to call the President. Such a system is encouraged. Because it was initially clear that the creation of monopolists in the waste management system in the form of regional operators would not be able to establish a system of efficient waste collection and processing. Accordingly, landfill sites will grow. If the system we propose is established, then people in small Selenginsk would have the opportunity to save on waste collection fees, handing over the sorted waste to a collection point. This would be done by private businesses, and only control would remain with the municipality.

In Selenginsk we also handed out the party programme to local residents, and then left for Ulan-Ude.

ULAN-UDE, Buryatia

Like Baikal, the capital of Buryatia is covered with smoke from the fires in Yakutia. But residents say the smoke will be even worse in winter. However, for a different reason. A well-known problem in the city is air pollution. A unique feature of the city is that the main contribution [to air pollution] is made not by industrial enterprises, but by private houses, that constitute a significant part of the city.

Many residents are forced to heat their houses with coal and wood (the latter for those who are better off). Gas is not available in 85% of houses throughout the Republic. Coal is the cheapest alternative. And the dirtiest. At the same time, we are actively selling gas to Europe, rather than supplying gas to our own country. The programme prepared by Yabloko – “Gas to Every House” – is about the mechanisms of simplifying the connection of houses to the branches [of gas lines] and demonopolisation of the gas distribution industry.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Another problem of the republic is the situation with schools. The Republic is only approaching the elimination of third shifts in schools, and so far, there is no talk of canceling the second shifts. Not so long ago, outdoor toilets were rebuilt in schools and now children will be able to use warm toilets in cold winters. There is shortage of teaching staff: 28% receive a salary of less than 15,000 roubles, and only 29% of teachers receive salaries above the regional average. In order to receive a more or less decent pay, they have to take 2 – 3 work loads. Due to low salaries, residents of Buryatia, even teachers, candidates of science leave to work in South Korea. They do it illegally, working in Korean factories, standing at assembly lines. This allows people to earn more than six months or even a year salary they get working at home.

Our candidate for the State Duma, 24-year-old Bayaskhalan Chimitdorzhiev, a member of Yabloko, told me about the situation with school education in more detail during our meeting. We discussed with him the Yabloko programme, which implies an increase in expenditure on education from 4% to 6% of GDP, and an increase in teachers’ salaries to 200% of the regional average.

I also spoke about these problems at a meeting with Yulia Zhambalova, Ombudsperson for Human Rights in Buryatia. Certainly, I could not avoid the problem of observing political rights in the Republic. The “Hyde Park” [i.e. a specially designated place which does not require any permissions from the authorities for holding rallies and meetings there] in the Republic is defined not in the main squares of the city, but in the Yubileiny Park on the outskirts of the city. I believe that the place of public and political actions in the city can and should be the most famous square of the city – the Soviet Square, on which the famous monument in the form of Lenin’s head is installed.

In this square and the square in front of the Buryat Opera and Ballet Theatre, together with the Chairman of our regional party branch Natalya Semyonova and activists of the Buryat Yabloko, we distributed booklets of the party programme to the residents of the city.

I spoke at the Ekho of Moscow in Ulan-Ude radio station, where I talked about the environmental problems of the region, Yabloko’s proposals to help people and businesses during COVID, and discussed the upcoming elections with the host Igor Ozerov.

The working day ended with a meeting with Buryat environmentalists – Andrei Borodin, head of the Baikal volunteer corps, and Buryad Soel Solbon Sanzhiev of the Baikal Environmental Coalition. We talked about the situation with fires in Russia and the Republic’s experience of forest fire prevention with the help of volunteers. In recent years, the number and the area of ​​forest fires have indeed significantly decreased in the Republic. Yabloko opposed the adoption of the new version of the Forest Code in 2006 and now we insist that it is necessary to return to the old system – to develop the forest service that has existed in Russia for centuries and significantly strengthen the Aerial Forest Protection (the fires in Yakutia show how important this is ). But the proposals of the activists are also correct – in addition to this, it is necessary to develop a system of volunteers so that in every settlement, in every distant village there are people who know what to do if a fire breaks out, how to extinguish it and what measures must be taken first.

This morning I flew to Moscow, and a few days later I will go to other cities of our big country. We are working, the campaign continues.

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