BBC

The ecological situation on the territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria CRI can be described as critical, while in some districts it has even assumed the proportions of an ecological catastrophe, says the chairman of the Green Movement of the CRI, Ramzan Goytimirov.

Despite the standstill of almost all industrial enterprises, the level of environmental pollution has not been reduced, but has even increased. This is mainly connected with ongoing military actions. For example, as a result of the sustained bombardment of a chemical plant in Dzhokhar, a large quantity of uranium, caesium-137 and cobalt-60 was discharged into the atmosphere.

During the war, the republic's mineral wealth has constantly been plundered or exploited "in a barbaric fashion". This, first of all, holds true for the amateurish extraction of oil and its refining into condensate. We have already reported about long Russian convoys, which take oil and associated products manufactured at local mini-refineries outside the republic on a daily basis.

At the present time, the level of contamination of the soil with oil products exceeds the allowable concentration on more than 10 per cent of the republic's territory. The situation is particularly appalling in Groznyy. For example, on the territory of the capital's Zavodskoy district, there is a 12m-deep oil puddle containing a total of 1m tonnes of oil.

According to the Russian scientific research centre Zemlya (Earth), more than 900 tonnes of heavy metals a year are discharged into the atmosphere in districts densely packed with petrochemical and energy enterprises. Never in the entire history of the republic has there been such an enormous quantity of unaccounted for waste in areas of industrial production. Neither have this many oil-bearing, polluting and contaminating substances ever been discharged (dumped) into the air, water and soil.

Russian ecologists also confirm that the republic is facing an ecological catastrophe, but are reluctant to take any action to remedy the situation. According to the chairman of the State Duma Committee for Ecology, Vladimir Grachev, "as a result of the work of these facilities (mini-refineries), lakes and rivers of oil have formed around them and sometimes they reach vineyards and other arable land."

Approximately 40 per cent of the republic's agricultural territories contain pesticides, whose quantity by far exceeds allowed concentrations. This is the result of an excessive use of such substances and their unsatisfactory storage conditions. To make matters worse, Russian troops have repeatedly used chemical weapons in Chechnya. In consequence, the natural balance has been undermined, including the ecological niche not only of Chechnya but also of the whole North Caucasus. Goytimirov added that because the Chechen rivers, abounding in water and carrying all of this dirt, eventually flow into the Caspian Sea, the reserves of red fish in the Caspian are in jeopardy, as 300,000 tonnes of poisonous and contaminating chemical substances are released into the Caspian every year.

Thus, the natural balance is virtually undermined and the area is ceasing to be vital. To rectify the critical situation, an urgent intervention by specialists is necessary. Their primary tasks will include the recultivation of land, restoration of the hibernation pits and a whole host of other activities. But before this can be done, the military action must stop.