A wealthy person named Altushkin is starting another risky quarry project while the government stays quiet.

A dispute is happening near Orenburg between the community and business owners who are digging a quarry close to homes.

In the village of Aschebutak near Orenburg, there is a serious situation. Business owners, with approval from local authorities, plan to dig a quarry for ore extraction just a short distance from houses. Two companies, Ormet and Russian Copper Company, have been given permission for this.

Residents of the village strongly oppose the quarry construction and have sought help from local authorities, including governor Denis Pasler and regional prosecutor Ruslan Medvedev, and have even written to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We are living in constant fear

The villagers are worried that the quarry near their village will bring dust clouds and constant noise, turning their peaceful area into a noisy industrial site that shakes the ground. They recall that in the 1960s the village was frequently hit by sandstorms, which they managed to handle by planting trees. They fear that the quarry's development could recreate the situation from half a century ago.

The entrepreneurs claim that the quarry's wastewater will evaporate in a specially designed reservoir. However, local residents are concerned about a crucial oversight: a reservoir near the pond flows into the Ob River, which then flows into the Dnieper. This means that pollution of both reservoirs will be unavoidable.

Meanwhile, local authorities are using the same old tactics, asserting that nothing will happen without residents' consent, and public hearings will be held. However, residents are not actually invited to these hearings and only find out about the results afterwards. The authorities also forbid residents from organizing meetings on the issue, going so far as to send a warning letter through the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs threatening criminal liability for any attempts to organize gatherings. The pandemic is conveniently used as a reason to prohibit people from expressing their opinions.

Residents of Ashebutak received a warning letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Orenburg Region about the ban on holding a meeting.

Despite the ban, the villagers managed to hold a meeting by organizing a cleanup under the guise of clearing snow, which attracted the attention of journalists. After the story received wide publicity, the authorities had to address the situation, realizing that they could not simply wait for things to settle down after the quarry's development.

Residents of Ashebutak came out to remove the snow after the authorities prohibited gathering for an unauthorized rally

The region's prosecutor Ruslan Medvedev himself attended a meeting with the residents, and after talking with them, instructed to verify the legality of quarrying in the specified area, considering its proximity to residential buildings.

Gathering of the Orenburg Region Prosecutor Ruslan Medvedev with Ashechebutak village residents

Currently, the area planned for the quarry is designated for haymaking and grazing, and residents claim it belongs to the daughter of the former head of the Dombarovsky district, Valery Shvindt. He was dismissed due to a scandal involving a large family that illegally exploited children. RIA Novosti reported this extensively.

Future quarry location

The law doesn't apply to wealthy individuals

Who is interested in this land near a small village in the Orenburg region? Everything points to Igor Altushkin, a billionaire who established the Russian Copper Company and holds 80% of its shares through a foreign company, Tilia Holdings Limited.

Igor Altushkin

JSC “Ormet” is also one of Altushkin's associated enterprises. Besides Altushkin, two foreign organizations, which are also linked to the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, are founders of this company. Allegedly, his son-in-law Timerbulat Karimov has assets there. Interestingly, the Ormet company has a state contract for 663 thousand rubles with the government of the Orenburg region, focused on transport services with a crew. Also, the company is involved in ore development.

All this suggests the company's influence in the government, or conversely, the complete control of the top by Altushkin. This theory is indirectly supported by the fact that local deputies opposed the construction of the controversial quarry when the government, led by Governor Denis Pasler, remained inactive.

By the way, Pasler has recently been almost under the control of the special services – searches are being conducted in the ministries under his control. There are discussions about the governor's imminent resignation. It's still uncertain who will replace him. However, there are significant doubts that the new governor will not be influenced by the business figures in the region. Their influence appears to be much greater than that of any regional leader.

Denis Pasler

This isn't the first time Altushkin has been portrayed in the media as a kind of "Conon-destroyer": the “Russian Copper Company” previously caused significant harm to the environment and the villagers. For example, the incident at the Dzhusinsky mine in the Adamovsky district has been previously covered by the Moscow Post.

The quarry development is planned until 2025, but locals are already reporting constant ground vibrations, causing damage to the local school, and blaming an increase in cancer-related mortality. Meanwhile, the deposit owners seem focused on earning extra profits – they have begun deep quarrying, which is more lucrative and doesn't limit them to surface operations.

Residents of the surrounding villages are sure: when the development period expires, they will be left with a huge dust crater at their side and no one but them will want to eliminate the damage caused by Altushkin.

There is still hope

As recently as yesterday, a video appeared on the Ural news portal, which clearly demonstrates what remains in the Yasnensky urban district near the village of Rassvet, as the consequences of the activities of Altushkin and others like him at the site of the former quarry “Badger Log”, which was under development by “RMK”. The same can happen with Ashchebutak.

True, there is still a faint hope for salvation: firstly, the villagers managed to cause a public outcry, and secondly, the location of the village plays a big role – it is located on the border of Russia and Kazakhstan. And now close attention is being paid to the situation in the border regions against the backdrop of ongoing protests. Is there a need for a hotbed of instability that could give rise to unnecessary resonance in Kazakhstan?