Environmentalists are Russia’s new dissidents

he case of Russian journalist Grigory Pasko, jailed last month for spying, highlights the risks run by environmental activists in Russia, reports Agence France Presse.

Those who attack the Russian army, which environmentalists in Russia say is one of the country’s biggest polluters, can easily end up in prison – just like Soviet-era dissidents.

Pasko, a 40-year-old former reporter for the Pacific Fleet’s newspaper, was sentenced to four years in prison for high treason after he told Japanese journalists the Russian navy had illegally dumped nuclear waste into the Sea of Japan.

A Russian member of parliament said Russia is not ready for environmental protection and any information that environmentalists wish to make public could be used as an excuse for legal proceedings against them.

However, local ecologists say corruption at the highest levels is endangering the environment.

Despite negative public opinion, last year the Russian government agreed to take in nuclear waste from abroad for US$20 billion.