Why Greenpeace is known – Kommersant

May 19 Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia acknowledged unwanted activities of Greenpeace. What is known about the international organization and its Russian branch – in the material “Kommersant”.

The international environmental organization Greenpeace was founded on September 15, 1971, when a group of environmentalists led by David McTaggart organized a protest against American nuclear tests near Amchitka Island (Canada).

Now the organization is engaged in the protection of forests and oceans, the reduction of energy consumption and the development of renewable energy, the problems of waste, genetically modified organisms and others. It has a scientific laboratory at the University of Exeter (UK), its own fleet and air fleet, including a helicopter, a hot air balloon and the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker.

During protests, activists of the organization often run into security forces or are arrested. The most famous case is when, in July 1985, French intelligence services mined and blew up the Greenpeace Rainbow Warriors ship near the port of Auckland (New Zealand) in order to prevent protests against nuclear tests on the Mururoa Mururoa Atoll (French Polynesia). The explosion killed the organization’s photographer, Fernando Pereira.

Greenpeace International is an alliance of a single coordinating company, Greenpeace International, and 26 National Organizations (NROs). The parent organization is based in the Netherlands, registered as a foundation by the Stichting Greenpeace Council and subject to Dutch law. It employs 260 people and is chaired by David Tong and Marcelo Iñarra.

The Russian branch of Greenpeace is called OMNNO “Council of Greenpeace”, the abbreviation stands for a branch of an international non-governmental non-profit organization. In Russia, a Greenpeace representative office was first opened in 1992 in Moscow, and in 2001 in St. Petersburg.

Formally, the Russian branch is independent of the foreign company and reports to the executive director, the general meeting and the board. Since 1998, the executive director has been a member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society and human rights, the chairman of the standing commission of the HRC on environmental rights, Sergei Tsyplenkov.

The meeting and the board now include 21 people, including financial director of the Podari Zhizn Foundation Olga Kapitulskaya, an expert in the field of combating corruption Elena Panfilova, an ex-analyst at the Memorial human rights center (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia and liquidated by decision of the Supreme Court RF) Daniil Beilinson.

Greenpeace’s budget is made up of membership dues, private donations and proceeds from the sale of souvenirs. The organization does not accept contributions from countries or private corporations. About 10% of revenues are spent on administrative expenses.

According to Sergey Tsyplenkov, in 2021, the total amount of receipts in Russia amounted to approximately 389.4 million rubles. About 95 million rubles were collected directly from individuals from Russia. (30% of the total amount), approximately 70% of donations are funds from supporters of the organization from Western countries.

Over the years of work in Russia, with the participation of Greenpeace, two nature reserves and four national parks have been created, eight more territories have acquired the status of UNESCO World Natural Heritage Sites.