The Komi prosecutor’s office did not initiate a case against the governor, who called the residents “garbage”

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Komi did not hold Governor Vladimir Uyba accountable for calling the opponents of the landfill in the Ezhvinsky district of Syktyvkar “environmental garbage.” Viktor Vorobyov, head of the Communist Party faction in the Komi State Council, filed a complaint against the governor’s words with the prosecutor’s office (the Ministry of Justice recognized him as a foreign agent). The refusal to open a criminal case states that the governor’s words were “unaddressed.”

“There are people who want to see an eco-republic, and those people for whom the worse, the better. This one, excuse me, is ecological garbage,” Vladimir Uyba said on the air of regional television.

Deputy Viktor Vorobyov demanded that the prosecutor of the republic, Nikolai Yegorov, initiate an insult case because of the words of Vladimir Uyba against the inhabitants of Ezhva (Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses – insult). Under this article, the governor could be fined from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles. or disqualification for up to one year.

The prosecutor’s office of the region counted (the answer was published by the local channel “New Republic”) that the words of the governor were unaddressed and were not obscene. It follows from the refusal of the prosecutor’s office that the words of Vladimir Uiba “referring not to citizens who oppose the construction of a waste sorting complex in the Ezhvinsky district of Syktyvkar, but to persons who pretend to be them, while being guided not by environmental protection issues, but by political motives.”

In 2025, a waste sorting complex is to appear in Komi, next to which a landfill will be built. As one of the three possible construction sites, a former landfill in the Ezhvinsky district is considered.

On December 18, the governor of Komi held a meeting with the residents of Ezhva, who were protesting against the construction. He promised to instruct the Ministry of Natural Resources of Komi to find another place for the landfill. The governor refused to apologize for calling the inhabitants of Ezhva “environmental garbage” (the video is available from SOTA).

Anastasia Larina