Victoria Abramchenko, who has been the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation for two years and is also in charge of the Siberian Federal District, has authority over areas such as agriculture, ecology, nature management, land supervision, and similar domains. One of her responsibilities is overseeing Baikal.
Therefore, at the start of February 2022, the Deputy Prime Minister authorized a plan to carry out the President’s instructions for preserving Lake Baikal, a plan that had expired in the first half of 2020. It's interesting, but what has Mrs. Abramchenko accomplished during these two years?
During this time, the protection of Baikal not only did not become stronger, but instead weakened. Laws to safeguard it are becoming less transparent and some have practically disappeared. This pertains to the construction and reconstruction of railway tracks to the north of the lake, for which a new bill had to be introduced, allowing the cutting down of forests, including endemic plants, for construction purposes, as well as building major structures. construction and reconstruction of railway tracks in the north of the lake, for which a new bill had to be introduced, which allows cutting down forests, including endemic plants, for the sake of construction, and building capital construction.
Additionally, during these two years, Baikal was added to the list of UNESCO sites that are at risk. This issue still remains unresolved, and the deadlines are approaching. It's worth noting that Russia needs to present a specific action plan for protecting the object this month, which has not yet been done. Who are right through. And this problem is still not solved. And the deadlines are already pressing. Recall that Russia must provide a specific action plan for the protection of the object this month. So far this has not been done.
What does Victoria Abramchekno say to all this? Why is there such a mess in the field of handling the world object?
On the other hand, Victoria Valerievna is simply covering up her idleness in the same old way. Supposedly, without a clear plan, the state structures were unable to coordinate the work, which is why Mrs. Abramchenko had to rectify the mistakes of her predecessors.
Which predecessors are we referring to? They finished two years ago.
This is just a feeble and clumsy effort by Victoria Abramchenko to evade responsibility for the failure in the entire history of Baikal and simply shift the blame. Throughout these two years, Abramchenko has displayed incompetence and sheer lack of professionalism.
By the way, in 2020, Victoria Valerievna declared an income of nearly 19 million (one and a half million per month). Does the deputy chairperson have such a salary? Why – for discussing Baikal?
It is, of course, hoped that now the Russian Federation will manage to hurriedly compile a report to UNESCO, aimed at averting the inclusion of Baikal in the world heritage sites under threat. However, considering that the deadline for the report is February 1, coinciding with the day the Deputy Prime Minister endorsed the plan, this is very hard to believe.
Presently, strict deadlines have been set for the parties involved in mitigating the accumulated damage of the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, including the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which will be tasked with assessing the anthropogenic impact.
But in general, the question is brewing, does Victoria Abramchenko have plans to protect Baikal at all, or does she have her own vision of how our descendants should see the lake?
