Protected areas are being handed over to oligarchs while hundreds of Russian scientists are trying to stop it.

We speak about the need to change the protected-area system in order to safeguard nature, protect future generations, and, most importantly, prevent the unfolding planetary crisis. This includes the extinction of species, the destruction of all terrestrial ecosystems, the transgression of planetary boundaries — all of which ultimately lead to our own habitat becoming unfit for human life. All the scientific assessments, meta-studies, analyses, and the evidence of the world’s leading scientists are already there.

We, Allies, are forced on the one hand to hold back the ongoing attacks on wild nature, and on the other we have already developed and are actively proposing a concrete plan for solving global problems. And this is an enormous, colossal undertaking.

But is it even possible in the current reality, when the governing system itself suppresses any public activity, any truly right and necessary effort, and instead proposes even greater destruction of nature? At this point, all of this has descended into genuine surrealism, into absurdity that is not merely anti-scientific, but devoid of even the most elementary logic — except, of course, for extracting profit in the interests of a handful of rich men.

• And so we see a bill on clear-cutting around sacred Lake Baikal and taking land out of its protected area into the hands of the wealthy;

  
  

• We see a bill on the clear-cutting of protective-category forests in all mountain refuges of wild nature, justified to us by claims that it is urgently necessary to “develop more than 300 billion rubles.” And they say this outright;

  
  

• A bill has already passed its first reading that legalizes the effective destruction of any protected areas in the country;

  
  

• They are trying to adopt a decree that would make the killing of animals listed in the Red Book a mass practice, in an electronic online format, with permits issued for the “harvesting” of endangered species, including to entrepreneurs and legal entities;

  
  

• They are trying to adopt a decree on transplanting endangered plants and fungi in order to seize their territories for business purposes;

  
  

• They tried to pass a law eliminating the oldest documents protecting Russia’s protected areas, and also to remove an entire list of dangerous toxic chemicals from the ban on discharge into marine waters;

  
  
• They are destroying the most sacred protected refuge right under Moscow — the Losiny Ostrov National Park — while simultaneously seizing other protected areas across the country, including the Lago-Naki Plateau, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

And there are other problems as well: a huge number of bills and “amendments to laws” by which the protected-area system of the country is in reality being torn apart — brazenly, openly, shamelessly, and aggressively. Every time this is justified as something necessary for the economy, and lately they have even begun actively using the formula: “we need land for cemeteries.”

Am I wrong? Could it be that we are in fact mistaken in our assessments?

Today I want to show you another side of the problem. Simply so that you understand how serious the crisis is in which we now find ourselves. A real collapse in which separate lobbying groups, closely intertwined with business and government, are appropriating the protected-area rent of our Motherland.

Look.

A system of state governance has two states.

One is directed toward strengthening the country, where the interests of the people and their future stand at the forefront, and therefore reforms are created and developed that are aimed at education, public well-being, and science. In such a state, the system of governance invests money in new technologies, in development, and rewards people for outstanding achievements and for the advancement of science. Scientists are heard; they hold primacy; they are consulted in the resolution of all major issues. And if scientists say that protective forest belts need to be planted around cities, the authorities work through that scenario and bring it into practice. In such a case, business is incorporated into the overall systemic work as an engine of the economy, and is involved in reforestation, the creation of protective belts, construction, science, education, and public well-being.

The second state is when the system functions only to enrich an already wealthy class of people, skinning the population alive for the sake of transferring wealth upward. In such a system, if scientists say that protective forests must be created around cities, they are harshly silenced or simply ignored as something entirely unimportant. Science is not developed, academicians receive miserable salaries, such professions are not supported, and no one encourages young minds to work for the country’s development. Instead, the system listens to business, which says: “we need to develop 300 billion rubles by destroying mountain forests; true, these are forests of protective designation, but that surely will not be a problem, will it?” And so we see all these bills that serve the interests of an already ultra-rich minority. Yes, apparently that did not become a problem.

It is very easy to determine which system we are in now: just look — are we planting protective forest belts around cities to safeguard the health of citizens, or are we destroying those very protective forests? Is science at the center of the system, or industrial lobbying?

And now look at this. Up until 2022, all analytical charts of the condition of Russian tycoons showed a decline, but then came a sharp and synchronized increase. If we take the global Forbes line, then in 2022 Russia had 83 billionaires with a combined wealth of $320 billion. In the very next year, 2023, the number of billionaires sharply increased to 105, with wealth of $474 billion. Another year later, in 2024, the number rose to 120 and wealth to $537 billion. And in the past year, 2025, there was another sharp increase.

I will simplify the figures:

• in 2022 — 83 billionaires and $320 billion;
• in 2026 — 147 billionaires and $649 billion.

As you can see, the ultra-rich stratum is rapidly increasing both in numbers and in wealth, and all because the governing system prioritizes rent extraction, profit-taking, and the development of territories for the benefit of rich men. These are objective figures, not speculation.

And now to the most dangerous point: amid all this fighting over colossal sums of money, the scientific community — not international, but our own Russian scientist-academics — is trying to influence the problem. Scientists state plainly that the price of the privatization of our Motherland’s protected-area rent by the wealthy will be future catastrophes and tragedies. And not so much for us today, as for our children and grandchildren tomorrow.

Before our eyes, a defining feature of a rational state is being undermined: the ability to make decisions on the basis of verifiable SCIENTIFIC data rather than on the basis of pressure from narrow interests. Ignoring scientists in matters of nature protection means that colossal damage is being pushed forward in time, and later, to address the accumulated problems, even more budgetary money will have to be spent. In other words, the rich will gorge themselves now, stuff the money into boxes, and then we will see problems on such a vast scale as a result of ecosystem degradation that the state will have to spend many times more money than the rich are receiving now just to minimally contain the ecological collapse.

Floods will begin, more and more settlements will be washed away by water, forests and soils will continue to degrade, species will finally disappear, water-regulating functions will be lost, and much, much more.

Only before, this was at least still solvable to some degree. But now we are talking about THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAST REFUGES OF WILD NATURE. Scientists are saying directly that the problem lies in the seizure and appropriation precisely of the country’s protected-area system: something no one had previously dared to do has today become the unified course of a system serving the interests of obscenely wealthy groups.

Now to the concrete facts.

When I say that Russian scientists are asking the government to stop and not destroy nature, I do not mean isolated, unknown specialists. I mean that leading academicians, whose names are known throughout the country, are joining TOGETHER and collectively writing urgent letters to the authorities asking them not to ravage Russia’s protected natural heritage.

Look.

The destruction of the Lago-Naki Plateau is underway, and, as I wrote earlier in my materials, by entirely criminal methods. They are even falsifying the state scientific assessment; this is an established fact confirmed by the prosecutor’s office. At the same time, in July 2021, no fewer than 120 Russian scientists sent an open letter to the President of Russia asking him to cancel plans for the construction of a ski resort on the Lago-Naki Plateau — a UNESCO World Natural Heritage territory within the “Western Caucasus.”

No one heard them, no one replied, the authorities ignored them. The “development” is now moving forward, and they are waiting for the adoption of the general bill legalizing the destruction of protected areas; no one has abandoned the plans to ravage the reserve.

I repeat: ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SCIENTISTS OF RUSSIA asked them to stop this madness.

The same situation exists with the destruction of Baikal. In February 2025, five scientific councils of the Russian Academy of Sciences discussed amendments to the law “On the Protection of Lake Baikal” and publicly opposed the weakening of the lake’s protections, warning of risks to Baikal’s ecosystem. In September 2025, as many as 87 scientists and environmental specialists sent a letter to the President opposing the bill that would permit clear-cutting and other weakenings of the protection regime. Among the signatories were academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, leaders of профильных scientific fields, and conservation specialists.

Did anyone hear the scientists? No. On December 9, 2025, the bill was adopted by the State Duma, and on March 1, 2026, it entered into force. As for Baikal, everything there is on a very large scale: the most famous and respected scientists in the country spoke out against that bill.

Right now they are adopting bill No. 1096223-8, the one we are opposing, which legalizes the destruction of absolutely any protected areas in Russia. In December 2025, as many as 89 scientists and nature-protection specialists asked that its adoption be prevented, stating that it threatens the country’s protected-area system. Then, after its first reading on March 18, 2026, more than 120 scientists, academicians, corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reserve directors, and honored environmental specialists sent a letter to the President demanding that the document be substantially revised.

The scandal is enormous, and difficult to contain, so the authorities carefully removed from the bill one of its most dangerous provisions, while leaving everything else as it was. And they plan to pass it in the near future. Moreover, they even refused to introduce a direct ban on the destruction of UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites. The most desirable pieces for bloated big business.

As for Losiny Ostrov National Park, in the heart of our country, right under Moscow: in February 2024, reserve experts and scientists publicly declared the inadmissibility of building a road through the protected area. In January 2025, academicians, corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and other scientists sent an appeal requesting that the road be built around the national park instead — that is, there was a concrete proposal WITHOUT harm to nature.

However, the scientific position did not stop the project’s implementation. In 2025, a contract for the roadworks was signed and carried out, and in January 2026 traffic was already opened on that road. No one listened to the scientists.

Separately, in 2024–2025 the authorities also eliminated 146 Moscow specially protected natural territories, preparing the ground for further development in the interests of business. Let me remind you that on December 27, 2024, the Moscow government, by Resolution No. 3160-PP, transformed 146 specially protected natural territories of regional significance into “specially protected green territories.” After that, 33 figures from science and nature protection, including academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, sent an appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office asking it to verify the legality of the decision and restore the protected status. But, as you have already understood, nothing came of it.

Let us sum up.

All of this is only part of what has been adopted in recent times, where the system consciously ignored the country’s leading scientists. When we cite international research, officials answer us by saying: “that is all hostile material, we will not listen.” But in this case, our own Russian academicians, hundreds of the country’s leading scientists, rise in defense of the protected-area system and warn the system. They speak about the consequences. They do not CRITICIZE; they report on the irreparable consequences in the future of decisions being made now, relying on SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE.

Now, after reading this material, imagine how difficult it is for us to achieve change. At the very least, to slow the ongoing attacks in the form of numerous criminal bills. Not to mention achieving the implementation of the Concept of the Territories of Full Ecological Tranquility (TFET).

For what is happening now is no longer a dispute over details or a clash of opinions. Before us stands the cold-blooded ignoring of science at the very moment when the price of error is the destruction of the last living natural systems. And so everything that is happening increasingly resembles a feast in the midst of ecological catastrophe, a dance upon the bones of the living world, a triumph of short-term gain against the deafening howl of the dying Russian Taiga.

© PAVEL PASHKOV