Arnold Tulokhonov: “I don’t see a great lake and a great country yet. Arnold Tulokhonov: “I don’t see a great lake and a great country yet. Population against the federal government

On January 25, the first meeting in 2017 of the working group under the head of the Republic of Belarus on environmental problems of Lake Baikal was held. Representatives of executive authorities, the scientific community and public organizations of Buryatia began discussing and finalizing the federal program “Baikal: the great lake of a great country.”
We talk about the ecology of Lake Baikal, about problems and solutions with the famous scientist and public figure Arnold Tulokhonov.

The Year of Ecology is important for Baikal

- Arnold Kirillovich, how do the authorities get involved in solving the problems of Lake Baikal in the Year of Ecology?
- Both for Russia and for the Baikal region, 2017 should be, if not decisive, then decisive in those problems that are visible to everyone. Offhand, they are divided into two parts: 1. technical or financial; 2. relating to the public.
Technical problems can be solved quite simply. If we have money, we build wastewater treatment plants, cut down forests or fight fires. And the problem disappears. The second part is more complex - the formation of environmental consciousness and education. I have experience in this area.
- Then a few words about the implemented projects in this direction.
- This is the Small Academy of Sciences, which has been operating for 40 years. It began as a public environmental children's organization. We have developed a series of teaching aids that were intended for preschoolers and schoolchildren. We prepared and published the encyclopedia “Baikal. Nature and People,” released an Atlas of the Baikal Natural Territory, made a series of wall-mounted educational environmental maps, and created the International Center for Environmental Education and Training (Istomino village, Kabansky district), which is already 17 years old. Every summer we gather children there, to whom our employees teach the basics of ecology. Since 2004, we have been publishing the popular science magazine “The World of Baikal,” which is the only one in the Academy of Sciences system intended for children. In general, these are some kind of steps that allow us to say that we are building chains to solve this big problem.
- Do you find support for your projects?
“Unfortunately, neither the public nor the government has any understanding yet. We talk a lot, but do nothing. We finance our projects from our own funds. Without government support, we replicated the encyclopedic reference book for schools and our guests. Unfortunately, today this is not enough. There is a colossal need for this publication, but there are no opportunities for additional circulation yet. The World of Baikal magazine, which has been published since 2004, is under threat of closure. Today in newsstands you can read about everything except the topic of Lake Baikal.

Wealth or resources?

- How do you generally assess government approaches to Lake Baikal?
- The state has three levers of influence - the carrot, the stick and consciousness. The whip is laws that do not work in relation to Lake Baikal today. The carrot is funding that doesn't exist. And the consciousness that we must form from childhood is that everything around is not a natural resource, but natural wealth. If we look at the resolutions of the CPSU Central Committee, starting in 1969, the first resolutions were called “Preservation of Natural Resources.” In market times, wealth was renamed resources. The Russian language is rich - we think they are the same thing, in fact they are not. Wealth belongs to the people, and resources belong to someone. If we treat Baikal as a resource, then our approaches and prospects are appropriate.
- Is it possible to change this attitude?
- During my four years of work in the Federation Council, I tried many times to change legislation in favor of people living near Lake Baikal. I believe that the lake should be used so that the people living around it will be much richer, because it is our national wealth. With the legislation that we have, these problems cannot be solved.

Laws violate constitutional rights

- The population of coastal areas has a very low level of quality of life. In your opinion, what are the first steps that need to be taken to improve the situation?
- Change tariffs for energy use. If residents of the CEZ receive a preferential tariff, then there will be some kind of motive, some kind of advantage, and not a ban. Unfortunately, we have a lot of prohibition mechanisms and no incentive mechanisms. Even around nuclear power plants, the energy tariff is lower, this is in any country, in any region. In the end, this is a payment for the risk of residents - a payment for the fact that they live there. And we can include all this in the project “Baikal: The Great Lake of the Great Country”.
I don't see the great lake yet. There is no great country yet. But if we want, then we must really make both our country and our lake great.
- What needs to be changed in laws so that they work for people?
- First, today the privatization of land is prohibited in the Central Ecological Zone (CEZ). That is, residents who have housing there cannot privatize it. And this is a direct violation of the Constitution, which states that all citizens of the Russian Federation, regardless of their place of residence, on the Garden Ring or in Buryatia, have the same rights. This is a legislative contradiction that does not allow our Rosreestr to issue permission for the privatization of land in the Central Economic Zone. It follows that residents of coastal areas cannot obtain land for construction. Including mothers of many children. This is the second violation of the law. Third, young professionals who come cannot build housing. And so on - you can’t expand cemeteries, you can’t build roads, you can’t build gas stations, but how to live further? Today it is impossible to cut down the forest that burned in the Central Economic Zone. And we have many such legislative violations of human rights. We need to change a lot.

What have we done for Baikal in 20 years?

- What activities of the federal project “Baikal: the great lake of a great country” do you consider priority?
- Firstly, I think that it is necessary to include those points that were omitted from the federal target programs (FTP). There were four federal target programs that were not implemented and will not be implemented. The question why is a separate question.
Secondly, this is our common idea with the people of Irkutsk and with the head of Buryatia to create a World Center for the Study of Fresh Water. Thirdly, this is the holding of an international conference or forum called “Baikal - a site of world heritage. 20 years later". What have we done in these 20 years? What grants did you receive and what came of them?
Because the signing of this document meant that Baikal is not the property of Buryatia, nor the Irkutsk region, nor Russia, but the property of the international community. And, if this is so, then the international community must invest resources, money, influence, authority, technology in order to preserve Baikal for the world community. Unfortunately, there is neither one nor the other, nor the third. Today we have many slogans, many wishes, many participants, but there are no people responsible and no results.
- How do you see further international cooperation?
- I would like to repeat the path that we began in the 90s together with our famous scientist Sergei Gerasimovich Shaphaev in organizing and holding major international conferences. The first was called “Man at Baikal”. Why in 90? But because then the Iron Curtain opened, and tourists, including foreigners, came to us.
In 1994, together with Academician Koptyug (Valentin Afanasyevich Koptyug - Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences from 1980 to 1997), they held a conference “Baikal as an object of international cooperation.” In 1998 - “Site of World Natural Heritage”. After these events, guests came to us, and tourism began to develop. I believe that without such image events, we will never get back on our feet. We need to revive these traditions of international cooperation.
Today we are faced with a problem - what to do next? Therefore, I took the initiative to hold, under the auspices of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation and the government of the Republic of Belarus, a conference “Baikal as a site of world natural heritage. 20 years later". We must gather everyone and decide - what has been done? Have you completed everything? Why didn't they do it? Who is to blame for this? And most importantly, not just sum up the results, but draw prospects for what’s next.

It makes no sense to build treatment plants

- Environmentalists consider the absence or poor quality of wastewater treatment facilities to be one of the threat factors for Lake Baikal. What is your point of view on this problem?
- From my point of view, building treatment facilities is pointless and ineffective. You need to think about filter fields. Still, we must either remove waste or make some useful things out of it. Considering that we live in a climate where everything freezes in winter, wastewater treatment plants will not work. This was all done for the European part, we must have different approaches. And we are currently facing the stage of changing the mechanism of environmental management.
- What can you say about the topic of forest fires, which has been hotly discussed in recent years?
- I want to say quite openly that the fires in Buryatia are a consequence of the adoption of the Forest Code and the ban on major logging on Lake Baikal. Today the forest has no choice - it will either burn or be cut down. You can’t cut it down, it means it will burn. If it doesn’t burn, it means they’ll cut it down. To prevent this from happening, the rules need to be changed, the legislation needs to be changed.
At the same time, when establishing the rules of the game, the authorities must listen to the population. It is necessary to include the principle of laying a path through the lawn, and make the path where a person walks, and not where the fence is. We have erected fences many times, but these fences do not solve the assigned problems.

People vs. Federal Government

- What can be done in this direction?
- Raise the people! We are missing out on the initiative of local residents. And our population has become opposed to all the measures that our federal government is taking. I have already said many times that we do not have a competition for the best settlement. We don't have a competition for the worst settlement. As children, we all handed in waste paper and received prizes for it. I say, come on, if a schoolboy collects 10 tons of garbage - he gets a motorcycle, if a student collects 100 tons - a car, we can come up with something...
Today we can send any schoolchild to Artek. Collect your trash, turn it in, and we'll make you a national hero. We need to inspire people, and for this we need a mechanism for moral encouragement of a specific person.
- What inspires you to work on the problems of the lake for so many years? And what does Baikal mean to you?
- Baikal is my home. Every time I say, how was it possible to come up with a law “On the protection of Lake Baikal”? I always ask, from whom should I protect him? From me? From local residents? The rich Russian language allows you to confuse many concepts. In the first version of the law that I drafted, there were two titles “On the sustainable development of the Baikal region” and “On the conservation of Lake Baikal”.
- How would you comment on the work of the first meeting of the working group under the Head of Buryatia on environmental problems of Lake Baikal?
- I agree that such things should be discussed with science, with the executive and legislative branches, and with the public. These four vectors must have the same direction. We do not yet have one point of view on the problem. We need to look for her. There is very little time for this. At the same time, we must strengthen the vector of our weight. We must understand that we express the interests of not only Buryatia and the Trans-Baikal Territory, Mongolia also stands behind us. And these issues need to be discussed with the Irkutsk region. These are the interests of both the Federal Center and the Baikal region as a whole. At the first meeting there was only food for thought, and conclusions should be drawn by each of the participants.
- Do you have any hopes for the effectiveness of the work of this working group and the federal program as a whole?
- There is always hope, there was, and perhaps there will be.

Larisa Bochanova

Reference

The program “Baikal: the great lake of a great country” is being created within the framework of the priority direction “Ecology” following a decision made on August 31, 2016 at a meeting of the Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Strategic Development and Priority Projects. The program is designed for 2017-2025 and involves the consolidation of existing state programs for Lake Baikal and the inclusion of regional financial resources, as well as private Russian and international investments. The goal of the project is to build a unified management system for Lake Baikal for the environmental and economic development of the Baikal natural territory.

VLADIMIR PONOMAROV: « I DON'T SEE NEITHER PLAYERS OR TEAM ON OUR TEAM YET»

Former defender of the USSR national team, CSKA veteran Vladimir Ponomarev shared his expectations from the upcoming World Cup. He noted that he was worried about our team at the World Cup.

What kind of performance do you expect from our team at the World Championships?

My condition is alarming. I don't see a real team. When we were preparing for the 1966 World Cup, we all played together for three years, first joining the Olympic team and then joining the national team. That is, our defense was absolutely stabilized. Now who will play? The Berezutskys don't want to. Ignashevich is alone. Who will he play with? If it were with Berezutsky, then I agree. And he won’t play with other players. Firstly, he is an older footballer, and secondly, he simply will not adapt to modern footballers who will play in the national team. I mean Kutepov and company. Erokhin can be included here. Well, maybe we will leave the group, and then it will be very problematic. I recently watched European football. Well, this is crazy speed, game thinking. There is almost no back pass there. All forward, to the opening. Crazy performance, physical fitness. But our people don’t know how to play football like that. I imagine how our guys will play: a cross pass, a back pass, a pass to the goalkeeper, who knocks the ball into the field. This is how the game will be. We don’t know how to play football at high speeds; we’re not adapted to them. Moreover, to such physics. As soon as physics ends, everything ends. And our guys don’t have the physical readiness to play like that for two halves. We have to play three halves. That's why I don't believe in our team.

What's her ceiling? Will we win at least one match?

I think we should defeat at least one opponent if the situation goes well. And so there is no one to win. We have only four forwards announced. Moreover, there is no defense. At all. The defense plays from the sheet. It just doesn't happen that way. This is what Cherchesov hopes for? For luck?

As usual.

That's what everyone hopes for. What if I jump out, what if it works? Not really. Suddenly it doesn't happen.

But our forwards are not bad: Smolov, Dzyuba...

Yes, they are not bad! None!

Do you think that by European standards they are not rated?

I think they would never have played in Europe.

Why?

They wouldn’t even sit on a bench in Europe. Because this is the style of play, physical and technical preparation. None, in short. Do you think Golovin will go to Europe and play? Never in his life will he play there. There you need maximum effort in every match, you have to give it your all, and they don’t just pay money there. Here we can score one goal and play the fool for three games. It works here, but not there. There the team will speak and say: “Why do we need him here? Let him go to Russia and stay there.”

You are so pessimistic, but still the World Cup often reveals new young talents. Are such discoveries possible in the Russian national team?

I don't see yet. Neither Golovin nor Chalov will be able to play at the same level as other European teams are playing now. Chalov can play for luck. There are such matches. But in principle, for there to be something stable, there is no such thing. So I look at the players of the European championships, they consistently show the same game. But we don’t have such players. Take Dziuba. Well, he'll last two halves. Well, by chance the ball will be scored. But there are no specifics.

Was it a shame they didn’t invite Igor Denisov to the team?

This is Cherchesov's business. He had a conflict with Denisov. By the way, I don’t like this footballer as a midfielder either.

Why?

I have something to compare with. I still see the preparation of football players, how they can play. He has no plasticity, no playful thinking. Some wooden soldiers are running around, bumping into each other, grabbing each other by the T-shirts, by the neck, by the body. We have never had such disgrace. If I see Golovin, I will definitely tell him not to get involved in these matters, because he also grabs his opponents’ shirts. We have never had anything like this in our lives. Moreover, in one of the matches Erokhin grabs his opponent by the neck to take the ball away. This is wildness.

Why do they play like that, because they know it’s a foul?

Because the brains don't turn on. How could Erokhin end up behind the player in possession of the ball? Therefore, he was forced to grab by the neck, by the T-shirt. This is not practiced in Europe, and judges immediately punish for it. And the football players do not accept this. It's simply indecent.

If we compare this team with the previous ones, what is the difference?

There is no team, no players. For example, CSKA has a team, so he took second place. The football players there are slightly above average in terms of game thinking and physical fitness, but their coach was able to prepare them. I don’t see any players or a team in our national team yet. Everyone plays for themselves. But in this case, nothing works.

Yulia GRIGORIEVSKAYA

Excerpt from part 3 "LOVE OF EVIL".
A big black-bearded man, apparently the captain, with rude calls dispersed the crew, whose appearance most resembled the crew of a pirate ship, sat the rescued woman down under a linen canopy and, saying his name - Tanacre, continued to question her. The sailors walked away not far, looking at the slender figure with greedy gazes, and crowded around the forecastle. The southern trade wind* (*trade winds are constant winds caused by changing temperatures at different latitudes) blew smoothly, tirelessly astern from the port side, accelerating the ship's speed, light cirrus clouds glided across the blue sky, the ocean, strewn with golden sparkles, swayed. Shyly wrapped in a wet blanket, the girl shrank under the gusts of wind and the ardent gazes of men, the thin fabric of expensive peplum outlined all the curves of her slender figure. The sailors flared their nostrils, as if sniffing at the “find,” and hoarse voices sounded louder. Anger and dissatisfaction burst through them.
Frowning, the head of the sloop invited the unexpected passenger to go into his cabin. Trembling and looking around, the girl hurried after him, but then, having made up her mind, two ringleaders blocked their path:
- Cap, this is not the case, according to all the laws of the sea, the girl is common!
Oh no, what followed could not be called unfair at all! The young fairy gave them a chance, and more than one, and only when events took a very bad turn, only then did she make up her mind... And she is not evil at all, she has never liked extreme measures, but what can you do if everything turns out that way.
- Shut up, you bastards! You don't even understand! If they give her such a ransom, we’ll buy off a whole brothel for a month!
It was useless; it was becoming dangerous to persist. It’s a pity, but the captain, who did not risk further arguing with the incensed and brutalized men, had to agree to fairly divide the crumbs.
It’s clear - first Tanacre will taste it himself, and only then, having had his fill, will give it to the sailors. The bearded man sighed - he didn’t want to miss such a jackpot, because after the beauty was fucked by the whole team, she would have to be thrown into the sea. The girl, apparently, is not one of the simple ones, and getting involved with the nobility is dangerous.
Throwing his light body over his shoulder, he carried him to the cabin. She would have been silent, the fool, but she decided to resist, and so she received a heavy slap on her tender face. The captain roughly tore off the expensive fibula holding the fabric on his shoulder. Now he wasn’t going to start a ceremony, what difference does it make if he’s going to feed the fish anyway! The frightened girl began to sob, wringing her hands, and fell to her knees... Tanacre lifted the skirts of his chiton and tucked them into his belt.
- Don't yell, bitch! Look, in the hallway, well-fed, pampered, maids, I guess, were spinning around like hell? Didn’t you expect that life would throw some kind of trick? Come on, don’t fret, you won’t die! If you like it, maybe I'll keep it for myself.
And in fact, seeing how the pink mouth opened in crying, how the elastic mounds of young breasts were agitated, the man decided: “Why should good things be wasted? When will you find such a beauty again? No, if after all the baby survives, he will keep her for himself, and when entering the port he will lock her somewhere in the hold.”
He didn’t have time to think the thought through to the end. It was as if the space itself shook, emitting a heavy roar, a powerful whirlwind swept through the cabin and the light plank bulkheads shattered, unable to withstand the collision with the huge carcass! The terrible monster, who unknown how appeared here, was cramped and, barely moving, he broke everything around into pieces. The deck shook as the monster moved forward, playing with heavy rings. The front legs are short and powerful, covered with shiny emerald scales, stretched out towards the bearded man. Insane horror squeezed my heart with icy fingers. Squealing subtly, the captain backed away, a yellow, stinking stream flowing down his legs.
The sailors, trembling and trembling, rushed about the ship with wild screams, the majority, pushing each other, tried to hide in the hold, some, calling on the Two-Wing and all the other gods, jumped into the sea.
The monster, recoiling from Tanacre with a snort (apparently, the smell did not appear), climbed out and, falling over the side, slid into the abyss. Before the sailors had time to catch their breath, thanking the creator, the water surface suddenly began to boil and, to the horror of the people, confusedly rushing around the deck and not understanding what was happening, the long body of a giant snake rose from the waves again. The terrible head approached, swaying on a flexible neck, and bent over the dilapidated ship. The monster opened its mouth, as if smiling, a scarlet ribbon of a forked tongue flashed among the saber-shaped snow-white fangs. The next moment, the sea dragon, emitting a thunderous roar, bit the mast, broke the bow with a blow of its tail and, circling in a whirlpool, the remains of the sloop and its crew sank to the bottom.
The snake swayed thoughtfully on the small waves, which gradually died down after the death of the ship, and then, waving its tail, went into the depths, catching up with a school of fat mullet. I really wanted to eat after the worries I had experienced.

*****

Having climbed ashore near Larzush, Atera, without hesitation, moved to the port, twirled among the motley crowd, listened to several dubious compliments and headed towards the city gates. She decided to live in this city for some time.

Just two months ago, a Petersburger Ilya Kapustin worked as an industrial climber and dreamed of moving to the south of Russia. However, his dreams were not destined to come true: on January 25, on his way home, he was grabbed by five men in uniform and masks and dragged into a minibus.

“They threw me on the floor and handcuffed me from behind. After this, the car drove off. They introduced themselves as intelligence officers. One of them stood on top of me, took out a stun gun and began interrogating me. To encourage me to speak faster and to make sure that I wasn’t lying to them, he fired electric shocks at me,” says Kapustin.

The politically active young man is currently in Finland, where he is awaiting a decision on his asylum request. He arrived in the country a few weeks ago. At various times in Russia, he participated in initiatives to help those in need, in environmental projects and participated in protests against the Russian political system.

In the car, Kapustin was asked questions about people they assumed he should know. The topic of the questions was their political position, and whether these people were preparing to overthrow the government through revolution. Each question was followed by an electric shock.

– After this incident, I was scared to be in Russia, because I was not involved in anything, I was not planning anything illegal, but at the same time because of my political position and because of my acquaintance with some people whom they might suspect , I was tortured and threatened.

The Yle news service could not find confirmation of Kapustin’s words, but the doctor’s conclusion matches the young man’s story.

The publication Iltalehti wrote about the case of Ilya Kapustin on February 3 this year. A photo taken by Yle in early March shows stun gun marks healing. Photo: Yle, iltalehti.fi

Atypical refugees

The number of requests for asylum in Finland from Russian citizens has increased over the past few years. Head of the Refugee Section of the Immigration Department Esco Repo says that changes in Russian legislation have an immediate impact on the number of refugees. Thus, after the Supreme Court of Russia banned the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses last spring, the number of petitions from members of this organization increased.

Other main groups of refugees from Russia include political activists and members of the LGBT community. In 2013, a law banning the promotion of homosexuality among minors came into force, as a result of which the situation of sexual minorities in society has noticeably worsened. Political activists have recently often been accused of terrorist activities, which can result in more than ten years in prison.

In general, regarding Russian citizens, we are talking about several hundred refugees.

– There was a slight period of decline, but last year the number increased again. More than four hundred applications were submitted, while a year earlier there were 192. At the beginning of this year, 73 applications were received, Repo said.

Last year, only 21 Russians who came to Finland as a refugee received a residence permit. Of these, 12 people received asylum, and the remaining nine were granted permission to stay in the country on other grounds.

Three days of ten years

Granting asylum to Russian citizens is a fairly rare occurrence, but still not incredible. Five years ago, a journalist and human rights activist received refugee status in Finland Oksana Chelysheva.

She came to Finland in 2008 and initially planned to spend three days here. However, in her homeland, clouds suddenly gathered over her, and three days stretched into ten years. As a correspondent for Novaya Gazeta, she reported from Chechnya and from protest rallies.

– This was still the peak of the active opposition movement associated with the Marches of Dissent in Russia - a movement that began in 2007. I personally, as a journalist, covered this, and this also caused displeasure,” says the journalist.

Although Chelysheva has been in Finland for a long time, sometimes the past makes itself felt.

– Sometimes there were situations when I felt like I was in some kind of bad detective story, when at the station there was a car with St. Petersburg license plates, and from this car some person with a big, big camera was openly photographing me.

Oksana Chelysheva Photo: Yle

Elections without choice

Today's presidential elections do not inspire political refugees from Russia with any hope.

– Unfortunately, the Russian opposition now has no hopes of support within Russia. And the point here is not only that they lost the opportunity to be accepted in Russia. Unfortunately, Russian society is now more strongly consolidated around Putin than ever before. “I consider this a huge tragedy,” Chelysheva laments.

Everyone involved in this supposedly anti-Putin propaganda turned Putin into a strong hero. You helped Putin have no alternative in these elections.

– Oksana Chelysheva

At the same time, she is sure that it was precisely those who opposed Putin who led to the current situation. These are Western countries with sanctions and other steps against the Russian president, and mouthpieces of anti-Putin rhetoric within the country. According to her, it was the demonization of Putin that made him what he is now.

“Everyone who was involved in this supposedly anti-Putin propaganda turned Putin into a strong hero. You helped Putin have no alternative in these elections.

Ilya Kapustin is also pessimistic about the future of Russia. So far, he does not see the opportunity for himself to return to his homeland and fulfill the dream of his own walnut orchard somewhere in the south of the country.

– So far I don’t see any possibility of returning to Russia. Still, the trends are not the best. Maybe after some time, in five years, I will be able to return, but a lot must change for me to want to return.