Week-ending 5 June 2020
Russia’s 2020 Wildfires Cover Greece-Sized Area – Greenpeace
Wildfires in Russia have burned across a combined area the size of Greece so far in 2020, surpassing official estimates threefold, Greenpeace Russia said as it braces for blazes to erupt this week and peak next month. Russia’s Federal Forestry Agency has identified 12.3 million acres of wildfires raging across the country’s forests so far this year, four-fifths of which are in Siberia and the Russian Far East. Experts warn that this year’s blazes, some of which may have survived from last summer through a historically warm and dry winter, could become the most destructive in history. The Moscow Times, 3 June 2020
Massive fuel spill in the Russian Arctic caused more than $86.3 million in damage, ‘Greenpeace’ estimates
Following a massive fuel spill in the Russian Arctic, the environmental NGO Greenpeace Russia reports that the ecological damage to bodies of water in the affected region alone could exceed six billion rubles ($86.3 million). “According to estimates from the head of Rosprirodnadzor, 15,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled into rivers. If we apply the methodology of the Natural Resources Ministry to assess the ecological damage to bodies of water, the damage could amount to more than six billion rubles,” said Vladimir Chuprov, the project director for Greenpeace Russia. Meduza, 4 June 2020
