The corresponding executive order was signed by Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoi.
The document stipulates holding technological activities in 2013 to eliminate past environmental damage on the contaminated islands of Frantz Josef Land Archipelago, on the North Island of Novaya Zemlya Archipelago in the Arkhangelsk Region, as well as environmental activities in the Nenets State Reserve.
The measures include assessing the environmental damage in the Arctic Zone of Russia, including the continental shelf and the Russian part of the Spitsbergen Archipelago, as well as measures to eliminate the negative impact of wastes accumulated as a result of the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill’s activities.
It is planned to provide funds up to 2020 to liquidate the harmful impact of the Dzhidinsky Tungsten and Molybdenum Plant in the Republic of Buryatia, as well as to recultivate damaged lands, and to improve the protection of surface waters and ground waters in the city of Ulan Ude in the area of subsoil oil accumulations contaminating the Selenga River.
In addition, funding will be provided to eliminate the Black Hole industrial waste dump and the White Sea slurry tank in the Nizhny Novgorod Region.
The document also stipulates measures to ensure legal regulation of activities connected with liquidating past environmental damage and envisages international cooperation in this sphere.
To deal with accumulated pollution, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has drafted a federal targeted programme of liquidating accumulated environmental damage for 2014-2015. The programme is expected to be approved by late 2013, which will allow launching practical measures in the beginning of 2014.
Source: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
