Analysis of Primorye’s response to the threat to the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve

One of the last refuges of wildlife, the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve, is being targeted for its boundaries to be “moved” so that gold can be mined there on an industrial scale. A road approximately 500 meters long has already been extended through the buffer zone, plans worth tens of billions are being announced, and agreements are being made with regional officials. This is the outright appropriation of our country’s protected natural wealth! The problem is that this is the last of what we have left at all. The endangered tiger already has almost nothing left to eat, its prey base is depleted, and its habitat has been destroyed. But instead of protecting nature, we are seeing increasing pressure, to the point where they have already reached some of the most biologically precious refuges.

So, my fellow supporters, we have done a great deal of work together: we submitted complaints to government agencies and initiated inspections. Now you are receiving an official response from the Ministry of Forestry, Environmental Protection, Wildlife and Natural Resources of Primorsky Krai. It is a very revealing example of how an agency is practically openly lobbying for the interests of a major commercial company that brazenly demands that the boundaries of the nature reserve be “moved.”

I will not repeat the history of the Glukhoye deposit here, because it has already been examined in detail in a separate article. I strongly recommend reading it. What is much more interesting now is something else: to look at what exactly is being written by a government agency that, judging by its very name, is supposedly meant to protect nature.

Let us examine the official response quote by quote.

“Glukhoye Gold Mining Company LLC is carrying out geological exploration of subsurface resources <…> under the valid lease agreement dated August 20, 2025, No. 23/43-25, as well as the forest development plan and an addendum to the forest development plan, which have passed state review, forest declarations and forest inventory descriptions of logging sites, in accordance with the requirements of applicable legislation.”

For some reason, the Ministry of Natural Resources did not consider it necessary to remind citizens that activities at this deposit had already been the subject of an inspection by the environmental prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor’s office established that geological exploration work had been carried out without an approved forest development plan, resulting in the destruction and damage of forest undergrowth across more than 0.5 hectares. Damage to the forest fund exceeded 100,000 rubles. In addition, following a decision by the environmental prosecutor, a criminal case was opened over the illegal logging of forest vegetation.

Moreover, the official Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve reported that, following a protest by the prosecutor, an order issued by the regional forestry authority approving a positive state review conclusion for the forest development plan was revoked.

And these are the very officials who are now writing to us that “everything is within the law,” while confidently concealing the facts of crimes already committed, forest destruction, a criminal case, and even the cancellation of the positive expert conclusion that they themselves had issued.

The next quote is even more interesting.

“According to the results of the inspection, it was established that within the boundaries of the Agreement, a forest infrastructure facility is being constructed — a mineralized strip provided for by the forest development plan and the addendum to the forest development plan.”

And the agency itself additionally reports the scale of this facility.

“The project documentation provides for the creation of <…> a mineralized strip 902 meters long and up to 10 meters wide. At the time of the inspection, the actual width of the strip ranged from 6.3 to 10 meters.”

In other words, they called the road a “mineralized strip.” They believe that simply changing the terminology is enough to justify the construction of a road in the buffer zone of the nature reserve. But if we stop playing with words, what we are looking at is precisely a road almost one kilometer long and up to 10 meters wide. Show us, officials, exactly where this facility runs. What specific purpose was it created for? Is it actually used for vehicle access, and what types of machinery are allowed to travel along it? Does it connect geological exploration infrastructure facilities? Where are the photographs and coordinates from the inspection? All we see is a bureaucratic brush-off: “it is a mineralized strip.”

Yet what is actually there is a linear facility nearly one kilometer long, and this comes after the prosecutor’s office had already identified violations of environmental legislation during development of this very same site.

I want to highlight the next quote separately.

“The construction of a mining and processing complex with a gold recovery plant within the boundaries of the Nature Reserve’s buffer zone is prohibited by the Regulations on the buffer zone.”

In other words, the officials are stating directly that industrial infrastructure is prohibited within the buffer zone. The official Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve previously reported that the materials submitted by the company provided for industrial infrastructure, while the necessary conditions for implementing the project included changing the boundaries of the buffer zone, changing its protection regime, and removing the special protective status from certain forest areas.

That is why the business is now trying to secure changes to the boundaries of the protected area, and, as I understand it, they are waiting for the adoption of a bill that has already been introduced and is under consideration, which would allow the boundaries of any specially protected natural areas to be changed for industrial facilities. This would be the most devastating blow to the entire protected-area system of the country.

I will immediately highlight another quote from the document.

“In accordance with the letter of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia dated May 25, 2026, No. 02-15-29/22287, the issue of changing the protection and land- and water-use regime for the purpose of mining hard-rock gold within the boundaries of the Nature Reserve’s buffer zone is currently not under consideration by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia.”

Everything is very simple here: they are not saying that they oppose the destruction of the nature reserve! They are not saying that the Government of Primorsky Krai has opposed changes to the buffer zone. Instead, in the usual bureaucratic style, they evade the substance of the public demand: “Well, for now, we are not considering the destruction of the nature reserve.”

There is nothing more to analyze, but we have highlighted the main and extremely serious fact contained in this document: the regional government and the regional Ministry of Natural Resources fully support major business interests and industrial gold mining in the biological refuge of an endangered tiger.

I would remind you that at the end of January 2026, Glukhoye Gold Mining Company LLC presented the Government of Primorsky Krai with a project for the industrial development of a gold deposit near the boundaries of the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve. The project provides for the construction of a mining and processing complex with a gold recovery plant, an open-pit mine, access roads, substations and a power transmission line up to 100 km long, the creation of around 600 jobs, and investments of approximately 46–48 billion rubles. The company expects to begin industrial gold mining by 2030.

Among the priority conditions for implementing the project, the company itself identified changing the boundaries of the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve’s buffer zone, amending the existing Regulations on the buffer zone, and removing the special protective status from certain forest areas. These changes are necessary for the placement of the open-pit mine, processing facilities, infrastructure and transportation corridors.

As early as March 2026, the Government of Primorsky Krai signed an agreement with Glukhoye Gold Mining Company on the implementation of the deposit development project. The declared volume of capital investment amounted to 48.3 billion rubles, and the agreement is to remain in force until the project is completed.

Let me emphasize: the company presented the regional authorities with a specific multibillion-ruble industrial project whose implementation requires changes to the boundaries of the nature reserve, and after that the Government of Primorsky Krai signed an official agreement with the company worth tens of billions of rubles.

I would also remind you, my fellow supporters, that the leadership of Sikhote-Alin itself, UNESCO, leading scientists and experts have spoken out in defense of the nature reserve. And, as you have already understood, prosecutors themselves also tried to intervene in the situation and identified specific crimes. Everyone understands what is happening! But because the business has secured the support of the highest levels of the regional authorities, including the Government of Primorsky Krai itself, the forces have proven unequal.

We continue fighting for Life! We will combine all the responses you receive from government agencies, study them and assemble them into a single overall picture. An enormous amount of work is being done, but, as you can see, these are difficult times, and influencing these problems is extremely difficult. Meanwhile, one of the last refuges of the endangered tiger is genuinely being threatened with destruction for the sake of industrial gold mining.

And everything we have been saying together is being fully confirmed.

© PAVEL PASHKOV