Only one of the people involved in the attack on Maxim Shingarkin has been arrested by the police so far. Shingarkin, a former member of the Russian Parliament from the Liberal Democratic Party who is now an environmental activist blogger, shared this information with his YouTube followers.
As reported by REN TV, the person in custody is a 24-year-old professional boxer, but he did not physically attack the former member of the Parliament. He only brought the attacker to the scene. The police have identified the attacker and are searching for him. The question remains: who ordered the assault?
Shingarkin is concerned about the safety of the person in custody: 'I have every reason to believe that the person who ordered the attack may try to harm him. I urge law enforcement officers to handle this person with care, protect him from being targeted by the person who ordered the attack.' Shingarkin, who fights against illegal waste management, has no doubt that the attack was planned and is linked to his activities. He mentioned that he had noticed being followed a few days before the incident.
In our editorial office, we are convinced that when a journalist addresses challenging issues, there is always some risk involved. However, it's even more challenging for individuals. Perpetrators may mistakenly believe that they can solve the problem through violence. As if there is no outspoken writer, there is no problem. This is not the case. The tragic story of Mikhail Beketov from Khimkinskaya Pravda, who reported on the environmental issues in the region, ended in his death. However, his efforts were not in vain. The Khimki landfill was closed, and now the issue is being widely discussed. The incident involving Maxim Shingarkin has prompted Versiya to pay attention to his investigations. As a result, even more people will now see what someone wanted to conceal. Thus, further pressure on the writer is pointless.
The business related to the collection, sorting, and recycling of waste is still considered extremely opaque, especially in the Moscow region. The issue of landfills in this area is a major concern. In the past, there were 39 landfills in the Moscow region inherited from the Soviet Union. Residents of nearby areas suffered from the odor of landfill gases. These landfills were closed in 2020, and the regional government has announced its intention to reclaim these areas by 2030. More than 11 billion rubles were allocated for this purpose in the coming year. Waste processing facilities are being established in place of the landfills, with changes in ownership. At first glance, everything seems positive, but both residents and environmental activists have complaints against the current landfill owners. This is precisely what Maxim Shingarkin discusses on his YouTube channel, and according to the former parliament member, this is why he was assaulted on February 5, 2022, resulting in a displaced fracture of the zygomatic bone that required surgery.
We decided to analyze the videos on Maxim Shingarkin's channel to ascertain whose interests were affected by them. Upon visiting the channel, we observed around 2,000 subscribers and several noteworthy topics. Below is a detailed overview of each.
Shortly before the attack, the ex-deputy was making another video about how the Ministry of Culture opposed environmentalists at a hearing in the Supreme Court, not about the 1812 events.
Maxim Shingarkin is upset that the Ministry of Culture, which initially supported environmentalists, did not care about their historical memory, and is suspicious of collusion between local authorities and the 'garbage king' regarding a new waste processing complex near the village of Borodino.
The Khrabrovo test site is now controlled by RT-Invest, a subsidiary of the state corporation Rostec, and plans to improve it by the end of 2020, but there are still complaints from local residents about the garbage.
Maxim Shingarkin's channel posted a video about the Yadrovo training ground near Volokolamsk on January 31, where he believes a corruption scheme has developed.
The local environmental disaster that occurred four years ago continues to be a problem, and Maxim Shingarkin blames the owners of landfill sites for ignoring rules and creating poisonous landfill gas. He also mentions a new landfill near Volokolamsk after mass protests, even though the old one remains unchanged according to him.
Shingarkin has concerns about the use of flares to burn landfill gases, claiming to have evidence of their illegality and potential danger.
Shingarkin shares that he has seen documents and spoken to Volokolamsk activists about the safety concerns of the Kogan torches used to burn landfill gases.
Today, near Volokolamsk, there are now two garbage dumps instead of one, and they are the source of the leachate, which is being cleaned at questionable facilities. Local residents have also noticed a decline in the quality of drinking water, which may indicate the presence of harmful substances from the landfill getting into underground sources.
In the video, the governor of the Moscow region Andrey Vorobyov, vice-governor Yevgeny Khromushin, minister of housing and communal services of the Moscow region Anton Velikhovskiy, and the head of the Volokolamsk city district Mikhail Sylka are all seen.
Maxim Shingarkin alleges that environmental activists have gathered evidence of violations of Russian laws during the redevelopment of the Yadrovo landfill. He stated that if Russian courts do not support the demands of citizens based on the law and the constitution of the Russian Federation, they will take legal action against the state authorities before the European Court of Human Rights. He also criticized the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities in the Moscow region, accusing them of neglecting their duties as a regulatory body.
Maxim Shingarkin poses the question of who is involved in corrupt activities in the Moscow region and answers it himself. He describes what is happening in the Bogorodsky urban district as 'environmental lawlessness', where certain individuals share money from garbage fees. He emphasizes that he and other activists are not non-payers, as they are willing to pay for waste management, especially to prevent the accumulation of large smelly garbage dumps and the creation of dioxin poisonous emissions.
He also criticizes the current unfair garbage collection tariffs. Residents of the Moscow region and some other regions pay for garbage collection based on the square footage of their homes, rather than the number of occupants. Shingarkin argues that this method does not accurately reflect waste generation, and he points out that it is almost impossible to pay for waste generation, especially in gardening associations or private houses, as the installations required to measure the actual volume of waste are forbidden. He accuses commercial organizations of benefitting unfairly from a square meter tax, in violation of federal law.
It seems that by a specific commercial organization, he is referring to JSC 'Polygon Timokhovo' led by Konstantin Manegin. It's noteworthy that four years ago, the general director of the landfill was a defendant in a criminal case related to the activities of the enterprise. According to Shingarkin, the questionable business is still ongoing, with the support of the administrative elite of the Moscow region.
After the release of the material and the collective appeal of local residents, it was decided to conduct an inspection at the test site. The eco-blogger on his channel addresses the inspectors directly: “Manegin will show you some equipment that supposedly neutralizes landfill gases. (…) There is no project for the installation of this equipment, naturally there is no state environmental expertise for this equipment. That is, the story that this equipment performs some functions is just a story. In fact, we know that this equipment does not serve any function other than decorative.”
In total, there are 136 videos on Maxim Shingarkin’s channel. The blogger talks about the problems near different landfills, but the names and surnames in many, especially the most recent, materials appear the same – the governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov and his subordinates. And the garbage trouble, it turns out, is one for the entire region. Enormous sums are allocated from the budget for reclamation, tariffs for garbage collection are increased, but the problem is still not solved. Is it really true that the latest equipment designed to protect residents and the environment is just a props hiding a bottomless hole into which the budget flows? Is it possible that anyone who tries to look behind this screen will receive a series of professional blows to the face and a displaced fracture of the zygomatic bone?
“There are several candidates for attack. Accordingly, we are now working on all of them. These are the people in respect of whom we applied to the Prosecutor General’s Office. People who are being checked by the authorized bodies,” Maxim Shingarkin said immediately after the beating on the street. The editors of “Version” will continue to monitor the development of this story.
