Press Release, 27.10.2020

Photo: View of Lake Sebezhskoye and the territory of the Sebezhsky National Park from the Castle Hill in Sebezh / Photo by Lev Shlosberg

Lev Shlosberg, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Pskov Region from the Yabloko party, asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia and Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Pskov Region to check whether , Nadezhda Podoplekina, Director of the Sebezhsky National Park, complies with the legislation, obliging residents living within the boundaries of the park territory to obtain permissions to visit the territory.

Lev Shlosberg sent appeals to Yelena Panova, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, and Ivan Gribov, Public Prosecutor of the Pskov Region,  with a demand to check the compliance with the law of the actions of the Director and other employees of the Sebezhsky National Park.

The request states that, according to the instructions of Nadezhda Podoplekina, all citizens living within the boundaries of the Sebezhsky National Park must obtain a permission to visit it. According to Shlosberg, this decision violates the rights of an unlimited circle of people living in more than 60 settlements of the Sebezhsky region.

Lev Shlosberg noted that in accordance with the Federal Law “On Specially Protected Natural Areas”, persons living in the territory of a national park do not need permissions from the institution that manages the national park, or the federal executive body, so that to visit the park.

In addition, the Regulations on the Sebezhsky National Park stipulate that citizens living in settlements located within the borders of the national park and their close relatives can stay on the territory of the national park (with the exception of the reserved and specially protected areas) without any permit.

According to the former deputy director of the Sebezhsky National Park for forestry, Mikhail Kubryshko, who is a permanent resident of the Sebezhsky district, “with the arrival of the new Director Nadezhda Podoplekina, residents living within the territory of the park have new problems due to her personal decision.”

“For example, a person lives in some village. There is a forest in front of his house. To get there, according to Nadezhda Podoplekina’s instructions, now one needs to go and look for employees who can issue a permit. But our park is 28 by 34 kilometers large. According to her, this is necessary in order to take into account the number of visitors and regulate the norms of the recreational load on ecosystems, and evenly distribute the flows of visitors. But we don’t visit the park, we live here! ” Mikhail Kubryshko says.

It should be noted that in September 2020, the newspaper Grazhdanin published an article A Bad Village describing in detail the conflict between local residents and the new leadership of the Sebezhsky National Park, which escalated due to the illegal construction of a camp site near the village of Ladeyevo.