Last Thursday Vladimir Putin arrived in Chelyabinsk for a forum for interregional cooperation and a meeting with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Putin also visited the Chelyabinsk Compressor Plant. He talked with the workers for more than half an hour, covering various topics from anti-meteorite protection to mortgage interest and environment. The ecological theme had a follow-up in the evening.
When Putin was already flying to Vietnam, he called two Chelyabinsk men directly from the aircraft. At first, they even decided that this was a prank. Alexander Baletsky has the details.
At 11:30 pm I got a call: "Vladimir Vladimirovich wants to talk to you". The activist ecologist Vasily Moskovets has been in the spotlight of all Chelyabinsk news for 2 days as he was the one whom Putin suddenly called personally.
Moskovets pressed the record button incidentally:
Putin: “You wrote me an appeal signed by 160,000 people, and I read it, I know your problem”.
Vasily Moskovets: "The most important thing the Russian President Vladimir Putin said was an address to us, the South Ural people: "I do hear you, and I'll tackle this issue".
The issue is the construction of the Tominsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise, where copper ore is planned to be extracted in huge quarries. By the way, construction is still in full swing today.
Part of the local residents has been protesting against it for 4 years as Chelyabinsk is at a stone's throw.
Activist: "I want to breathe in clean air. I want to drink clean water".
They all insist on reliable ecological expertise. These concerns were also expressed by the President in the phone call. He noted that no decision, especially on the construction of such a facility, should be taken behind the scenes:
“The truth is I don't know if it should be banned or not, but absolutely, it mustn't be allowed without preliminary deep study and without open, absolutely understandable to people hearings, arguments, consideration of their opinions”.
A few minutes after the president's call, another one followed, this time from the governor's office. They also received the President's signal.
Boris Dubrovsky, Governor of the Chelyabinsk region: "We'll work to find out if the risks are relevant".
Vasily Moskovets: "Anyway, we're destined for negotiating. I'm happy that this time is now".
