What is the Bellona Environmental Fund – Picture of the Day – Kommersant
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April 18 Prosecutor General’s Office acknowledged undesirable activity in Russia of the international ecological fund “Bellona”. The history of the public organization is in the reference “Kommersant”.
The Bellona International Economic Fund was founded in Oslo on June 16, 1986 as a response to the Chernobyl disaster. Engaged in environmental protection, in particular radioactive and nuclear threats. In March 1994, a representative office of Bellona was opened in Murmansk, and in April 1998 – in St. Petersburg.
Bellona’s activities in Russia focused on the disposal and security of more than 120 decommissioned nuclear submarines in the Russian Arctic, as well as the safe storage of nuclear materials and radioactive waste at former naval bases on the coast of the Kola Peninsula. Also representatives of Bellona were in the public council of the state corporation Rosatom.
In 1995, the head of Bellona in Russia, environmentalist Alexander Nikitin, was accused of disclosing state secrets for his report “The Northern Fleet: Potential Risk of Radioactive Contamination of the Region” – in 2000, the charges against him were dropped by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. This is so far the only case in Russia when a person accused of treason was acquitted.
From 2014 to 2021, the organization carried out a project to deploy a charging infrastructure in the Russian Arctic to promote electric vehicles in the region. The Murmansk office was recognized as a foreign agent in 2015, and the representative office in St. Petersburg – in 2017. After the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine in March 2022, the fund announced the end of its work in Russia. The organization continued to work in a new office in Vilnius.
In Russia, Bellona has published over 100 reports, 30 of which dealt with nuclear safety. The organization also published the expert journal Ecology and Law.
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