Deputies defended mushrooms, but forgot about mycelium – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

The collection of especially valuable plants and mushrooms from the Red Book has become a criminal offense – with a punishment of six to nine years in prison. The deputies argue that mushroom pickers and herbalists will be held accountable “only if this crime is committed with direct intent, and not through negligence.” But environmentalists believe that it will be difficult for the police to figure out whether the citizen deliberately collected plants and mushrooms or out of ignorance. And an expert mycologist considers it senseless to protect the “hats and legs” of even rare mushrooms, since their collection does not affect the viability of the mycelium in any way.

In an explanatory note to new law It is said that earlier criminal liability was provided only for harm to Red Book animals. At the same time, the regions complain about “an increase in the destruction of rare plant species.” This problem is most acute in the Far East, in the Altai Mountains and the Crimea. “Often, rare plants with medicinal properties are destroyed for the purpose of subsequent sale in neighboring countries,” the authors of the law write. Therefore, they provided rare plants and fungi with the same protection as for Red Book animals. A new article will appear in the Criminal Code. 260.1 (“Deliberate destruction or damage, as well as illegal extraction, collection and trafficking of especially valuable plants and fungi belonging to species listed in the Red Book of Russia and (or) protected by international treaties of Russia”). In fact, this is a tracing paper of the “animal” art. 258.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

For illegal extraction, collection, acquisition, storage or sale of rare mushrooms, plants or their parts and derivatives, up to four years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million rubles can be imposed.

If a crime is committed using one’s official position or “with a public demonstration”, then it threatens up to six years and a fine of 2 million rubles. Illegal buying and selling through the media or the Internet, committed by a group of people, will be punished by nine years in prison and a fine of 3 million rubles.

However, we are not talking about all the Red Book plants and mushrooms – the government will have to determine a separate list of species. The explanatory note states that citizens will be punished “only if this crime is committed with direct intent, and not through negligence.” Experts interviewed by Kommersant do not understand how law enforcement officers will distinguish whether a citizen deliberately collected plants and mushrooms or out of ignorance.

Greenpeace Russia expert Mikhail Kreindlin draws attention to yet another lacuna: “Now you need licenses to breed Red Book animals, but there is no such norm for plants. How will the authorities check companies that sell medicines based on, for example, ginseng? How to check whether this ginseng was harvested in the wild or grown on a plantation?”

The expert also asks whether there will be criminal liability for companies that damage rare plants during mining: “And now Rosprirodnadzor issues permits for replanting plants that are located at the site of future construction or exploration of deposits. Would that count as destruction or damage?”

Mycologist Mikhail Vishnevsky welcomes the increase in liability for harm to Red Book plants. However, with mushrooms, “mechanical copying” of an article for rare animals will not work, he believes: “Regulation applies only to fruiting bodies – caps and legs, and not mycelium. But the collection of fruiting bodies does not affect the viability of the mycelium in any way. Mushrooms reproduce by spores that are carried over long distances. If some type of fungus has disappeared from a particular place, then next season spores from other myceliums will arrive and repopulate this point.”

At the same time, Mr. Vishnevsky points out, the new article will entail legal conflicts: “There are few experts in the country who are able to distinguish whether it is a Red Book mushroom or not. It is also difficult to distinguish wild mushrooms from diluted ones. In the south of the European part of Russia, the Red Book summer truffle is bred, restaurants buy it and serve it to visitors. Is this obtained by OCG by law? And all of them are six years old at once?”

Anna Vasilyeva