Khaki instead of green: Russia’s militarized economy is ruining the environment

RU

Due to sanctions imposed after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia lost access to Western resource extraction technologies and to the European market — while also facing an oil price cap. The Russian economy managed to withstand the pressure, but the authorities sacrificed environmental protection in the process by implementing a “legislative rollback” that weakened environmental standards and allowed industrial companies to evade responsibility for pollution and environmental destruction.

Experts from Green Think Tank, an organization monitoring the state of the Russian environment amid the war, concluded that ecological issues will worsen regardless of the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine, of Russia's economic situation, or of the degree of the country's international isolation. Despite the regime's efforts to conceal information about ecological disasters, signs of deterioration are already evident, the group's report states. The Insider spoke with researchers about the changes that have been seen since 2022 in Russia regarding pollution, waste management, and oversight of the oil and gas industry, as well as about the authorities’ actions to protect wildlife.

Oil and Gas Industry: Sanctions pressure and suppression of issues

“Sanctions have given Russian oil and gas giants an additional excuse to cut costs at any expense, with the environment becoming the first casualty,” says Vladimir Milov, a Russian former Deputy Minister of Energy (2002) and now an expert at Green Think Tank. “There’s simply no one to counteract this. The country has long lacked a significant movement capable of defending the environment. Fragmented grassroots activist groups often face aggressive pressure from the authorities. One need only recall what happened this year to activist groups in Bashkortostan: arrests, intimidation, and repression.”

Sanctions have severely restricted or entirely blocked the purchase of much new equipment and spare parts used in the oil and energy sectors. As a result, there has been a sharp increase in pipeline ruptures. In 2022, the number of such incidents surged by 2.6 times, resulting in over 26,000 spills, according to Green Think Tank experts.

The rising number of oil pipeline ruptures is causing significant contamination of rivers with petroleum products. However, this impact can only be assessed after a minimum of several months, with statistically significant increases recorded only after about a year and a half. Experts estimate that up to 10 million barrels of oil may have entered bodies of water in 2023.

“Russia's oil companies have long operated under the principle of 'extract and abandon,'” says Milov. “These companies do not use modern methods that could sustain the long-term productivity of oil fields. Their goal is to extract as much as possible and move on. As a result, the soils in oil-producing regions become barren, poisoned lands are beyond restoration, and the environmental damage reaches catastrophic proportions.”

According to Milov, issues of aging infrastructure and oil spills are being silenced: attempts to draw public attention to these problems are harshly suppressed, and the topic of oil spills destroying ecosystems remains taboo. For example, in 2023, an oil spill of approximately seven tons occurred in Komi, causing severe pollution of the Kolva River and the surrounding areas. The spill can be traced to oil companies' cost-cutting measures on pipeline and infrastructure maintenance. Instead of investing in expensive accident-prevention measures, leaks are often written off as minor losses.

Cost-cutting measures have also led to lower standards in automobile fuel production. In Russia, where motor vehicles are one of the primary sources of harmful emissions, any relaxation of standards directly impacts the population. Air pollution in major cities is expected to reach critical levels. As Milov warns, “The more emissions from vehicles, the higher the risk of illnesses, soil contamination, and water pollution. All of this is concealed behind claims about the need to support businesses.”

Relaxed environmental controls in Russia’s oil and gas industry also pose a threat beyond the country’s borders. Authorities have permitted non-ice-class vessels to navigate the Northern Sea Route, raising the risk of massive oil spills in the Arctic. Additionally, the use of “shadow” tankers to transport Russian oil in violation of sanctions increases the likelihood of ecological disasters in international waters, as these vessels are more prone to accidents and often lack adequate insurance coverage.

Pollution: 40 tons of coal waste per person in Russia

In 2022, the total volume of waste in Russia increased by 7%, while coal mining waste rose by 14%, reaching 5.6 billion tons, according to a report by Green Think Tank. This accounts for three-quarters of the country’s total waste — which is 1.5 billion tons more than in China — and translates to 40 tons of waste per Russian citizen.

Air quality control and emissions monitoring fare no better. In 2022, state air pollution monitoring was conducted in only 20% of Russian cities. In major industrial hubs such as Dzerzhinsk and Karabash — home to the Karabashmed copper plant, one of the most polluted sites on the planet — monitoring was completely absent.

Conducting an objective assessment of pollution levels in Russian cities is nearly impossible. Official reports rely on outdated and opaque methodologies to claim improvements in pollution levels, while independent sources report the opposite: a steady increase in contamination.

“The state of air and water in Russia is the result of ignoring long-term consequences in favor of profit,” says one of the report's authors, Zakhar Marzhanov (name changed at the speaker’s request). “Since the early 2000s, oversight of natural resources and extraction operations has been merged under a single ministry. This body is tasked both with preserving nature and extracting maximum profit from it. This dual role leaves no room for genuine environmental protection because, when faced with a choice between profit and resource conservation, money will always win. This approach has, among other things, led to the rapid destruction of forests.”

According to Marzhanov, the war has effectively given big business free rein. Companies no longer fear inspections, as any mention of violations is suppressed, and checks are conducted only where authorities can “extract” money from business owners. The government uses the war as an excuse to lift oversight, argues Milov:

“Metallurgy is one of the dirtiest industrial sectors, and steel and other metals are essential for weapons production. Large enterprises with government connections have effectively been granted a license to pollute.”

Another major issue linked to environmental pollution is corruption and gaps in legislation, experts note.

“Oligarchs and their associates exploit environmental laws for personal gain,” Marzhanov says. “For instance, regulatory changes now allow companies to fill mining voids with Hazard Class V waste, supposedly the least hazardous. In practice, companies misclassify waste to downplay its danger, resulting in pollution equivalent to Class II levels. The damage caused by such waste takes at least 30 years to repair. Corruption at all levels hides billions of tons of waste, fueling a 'waste processing and disposal' business. Rosatom, for example, acts as a middleman in questionable waste schemes, profiting from these dubious operations.”

Animal protection: PR instead of real action

Protecting rare animals remains more of means of improving the government’s image than a genuine environmental initiative, according to Green Think Tank expert Artur Bakuriani (name changed at the speaker’s request).

“Support for animal protection laws often remains purely populist,” says Bakuriani. “Take, for example, the widely publicized 'liberation' of orcas in Primorye in 2019, when the process was launched live on television, during one of the president’s direct lines. The authorities gained some favor with the public, but it didn’t fundamentally change anything. It was both a convenient PR opportunity and a relatively safe initiative. Today, working on animal and environmental protection carries no significant career risks.”

At the same time, Russian laws related to environmental protection often lack real enforcement, and initiatives that could have meaningful consequences are blocked.

“Even some United Russia deputies in the State Duma, such as Olga Bessarab, are trying to push laws banning the capture of marine mammals, but they face resistance from higher up,” says Bakuriani. “The real interests of business and the authorities, as usual, steer the situation in a completely different direction. The laws that are eventually passed do not involve significant efforts for control or protection — and even those are often not enforced.”

After the scandal involving the “whale prison” in Primorye, which attracted the attention of international animal protection organizations, a law was introduced banning the capture of these animals. However, loopholes remain that can be exploited to continue capturing marine mammals “for educational and cultural purposes.” This provision allows large aquariums and oceanariums to gain access to these animals for commercial purposes, says Bakuriani:

“The 'whale prison' story clearly demonstrated that even when animals face the direct threat of extinction, they remain just a part of political deals. The release of orcas and belugas into the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan was presented as a victory for animal protectors, yet some of the animals died while still in captivity, the remaining ones are still under threat, and animal protection laws continue to be ignored. The true goal is to preserve the interests of large businesses, which profit significantly from the capture of these animals.”

Animal protection legislation is also being exploited in the hunting of rare species — primarily for the benefit of the elite. “Famous deputy Reznik and other influential officials are actively pushing reforms to gain the right to hunt rare species under the guise of 'population control,'” says Bakuriani. “In reality, this is simply a way to provide access to new trophies for elite hunters. The destruction of rare species under the pretext of 'control' becomes profitable when the issue is framed for privileged groups, while the ban remains in place for regular hunters.”

Common problems: lack of control and understanding of consequences

Vladimir Milov notes that at the beginning of Putin's rule, Russia had independent organizations that monitored the state of the environment, holding businesses accountable for violations. However, over time, these organizations were either shut down or subordinated to state agencies, turning them into “puppet” agencies.

“Control over the enforcement of environmental standards was handed over to the Ministry of Natural Resources itself — the agency that is interested in resource extraction and heavily dependent on the oil and gas lobby,” says Milov. “[Russian state environmental oversight body] Rosprirodnadzor was staffed by people closely connected to large oligarchs. The head of the agency, Svetlana Rodionova, who is close to Sechin, controls environmental issues in the interests of business, not nature. Today, the activities of independent organizations have been crushed, and public oversight has been virtually eliminated.”

The example of the Far Eastern Center for the Study of Salmonids, which was included in the “foreign agent” registry in December 2022, highlights the absurdity of banning any environmental criticism. The center, which studied the damage from oil extraction in the rivers of Sakhalin, was deemed a threat to the state. “This step is a clear indication of the absolute power of the oil lobby,” says Milov. “Questions about how oil extraction affects ecosystems are practically outlawed, and any small independent groups of environmentalists are declared 'undesirable' or 'extremist'.”

Zahar Marzhanov emphasizes that addressing environmental issues has never been a priority for Russian authorities:

“The crisis of environmental awareness is clear: environmental concerns rank only 11th to 13th in priority, while in the U.S., these issues are among the top five most important for the public. The authorities are not held accountable for the consequences of their decisions, and even the prosecutor’s office only records violations for the sake of formalities. Until officials recognize that nature needs protection, the situation will not change. What is happening in Russia today is merely the beginning of an environmental catastrophe that the authorities choose to overlook.”