To Destroy or to Protect: How Moscow Debated the Future of Lake Baikal on November 20

The fight for Baikal continues. The blatantly criminal draft law aimed at legalizing clear-cutting of ancient forests around Baikal and transferring lands from protected areas into private hands for business tourism clusters is facing fierce resistance from society and from a front that has already formed within the system itself. We have strong support from the central government apparatus and influential people in power, across all levels — from ministries to the State Duma and the Federation Council.

But for now everything is very difficult, because lobbying groups also have enormous influence — and enormous money. And they are ready to share their “cut” from Baikal torn into pieces, if its exploitation begins!

So, comrades, let us now closely watch all movements inside the system. On November 20, 2025, an open roundtable discussion was held in Moscow on the controversial Baikal amendments. The event took place in the Pillar Hall of the House of Unions and was organized by the CPRF faction in the State Duma. Among the participants were leading federal and regional politicians, including CPRF chairman Gennady Zyuganov, State Duma deputies from the Baikal region, representatives of the governments of Buryatia and the Irkutsk Region, as well as expert ecologists. In addition, the head of the Republic of Buryatia Alexey Tsydenov and communist deputy Sergey Levchenko — former governor of the Irkutsk Region and an open opponent of the draft law — attended the meeting.

I will highlight only those points that deserve attention right now. Because everything else is demagoguery aimed at quickly pushing through the draft law while justifying it with “look, we even held meetings and openly discussed everything.” All this “open discussion” is essentially officials talking among themselves, along with other figures tied to the authorities.

And these important points are the ones that matter to us.

Sergey Levchenko became one of the main opponents of the draft law; during the meeting he criticized the idea of clear-cutting and proposed a comprehensive plan of action: to jointly develop ten-year socio-economic development programs for the Baikal territories with the governments of Buryatia and the Irkutsk Region. In these programs, according to Levchenko, it is necessary to clearly specify which infrastructure projects residents of the Central Ecological Zone of the lake need (for example, new wastewater treatment plants, bridges, roads, stormwater systems, etc.), and the specific land plots where these objects should be built (down to cadastral numbers). This approach would allow addressing the pressing needs of local residents without lifting the ban on clear-cutting. According to the deputy, this could be a real alternative to the controversial provision of the draft law, opposed by the scientific community.

And let me remind you: the main argument of the Baikal-destroying lobby is precisely that destroying Baikal’s sanctuary is necessary “to save people.” They claim cemeteries need to be built, lands privatized, and so forth.

I will quote Sergey Levchenko:

“We understand very well that the distance between clear-cutting and socio-economic development is huge. And it does not always lead where it should.”

His statement was sharply countered by the head of Buryatia, Alexey Tsydenov — one of the main lobbyists for destroying Baikal. I want to immediately quote my publication from November 16, 2025, on social media, to explain why Tsydenov is so eager to ‘develop’ Baikal.

“The one trying hardest to exploit Baikal by conducting clear-cutting of ancient forests is Buryatia. The republican authorities are actively lobbying for the adoption of the draft law. I believe they want to solve their own financial problems at Moscow’s expense (state subsidies for the construction of expensive resorts). Recently new information surfaced: deputies of the People's Khural of Buryatia reviewed the draft regional budget for 2026 in the first reading. And they have no money — next year’s deficit is catastrophic, nearly 8 billion rubles (7.9 billion).

Now they are taking on even more loans. And they openly say, I quote: ‘To cover the deficit of the republican budget, loans from credit organizations will be attracted.’ And the question is: who will repay these loans?

That is where the draft law they are trying to push THROUGH RIGHT NOW comes in. Even the smallest subsidies from Moscow for building tourism clusters would instantly cover the entire regional deficit — and then an endless “sea of development” of both Baikal’s shores and the federal budget follows.

Moreover, I analyzed Buryatia’s debt data. In 2026, the accumulated debt is expected to reach about 48 billion rubles — that is 87.4% of the region’s tax and non-tax revenues. This is a colossal crisis! They already owe 64% of this money to private credit institutions + 36% in budgetary loans. Private organizations literally “hold them by a painful place.” And next year another deficit of nearly 8 billion rubles is expected — and realistically it may turn out even higher. The debt pit is simply drowning the region!

The draft law on clear-cutting is an entire cluster of measures: cutting ancient forests (sanitary works, allowing them to pull subsidies from the state budget), massive modernization of expensive wastewater treatment facilities, infrastructure, highways, and finally resorts. And then millions of Chinese tourists will flow in — right now they are even negotiating discounts on flights to attract as many as possible! All this means huge money now and in the future.

So Baikal is becoming a victim of the extremely ineffective work of the republic’s administration. And everyone who ‘cuts budgets’ through construction, contracting, and so on wants to divide Baikal under one umbrella. It has already surfaced that the main lobbyists of the draft law are directly connected to or control major construction businesses.”

These are the real, objective facts.

So, at the roundtable, Alexey Tsydenov opposed Sergey Levchenko’s proposal to address local residents’ issues point-by-point. He stated that a similar idea — a targeted list of objects — had already been discussed during the preparation for the second reading: one version of the draft contained an appendix with specific land plots (with cadastral numbers) where protective structures and roads were planned. But, according to Tsydenov, that version did not pass legal review — it turned out that once construction starts, the cadastral number of the plot changes, so it is impossible to enshrine such lists directly in the law.

And then Levchenko responded.

“Alexey Sambuevich said they originally followed this path, but then some bureaucrat appeared who said that due to changes in cadastral numbers this draft law cannot be adopted <…> It turns out we worked and worked, the president instructed that socio-economic development programs be taken into account, then some official came and said: ‘This cannot be done.’ We stopped, wiped our faces, and went down another path. And now let’s introduce clear-cutting.”

I am skeptical about this roundtable. Look! Despite the generally critical attitude toward clear-cutting and the repeated calls to strengthen control over sanitary logging and to clearly define exceptions in the law to prevent commercial logging masquerading as sanitary work — the result of the meeting was simply to send RECOMMENDATIONS to the State Duma Committee on Ecology and Natural Resources, urging them to refine the draft law.

To be clear: the head of that very committee, Dmitry Kobylkin (former Minister of Natural Resources of Russia, our long-time acquaintance), is one of the fiercest lobbyists for “developing” Baikal. He is personally pushing the draft law, has visited Baikal, and knows perfectly well about all the objections and statements from society and the scientific community against legalizing this criminal draft law.

And now, after this big roundtable, this same official will simply receive RECOMMENDATIONS. Naturally, countless recommendations have already been sent — from scientists, the public, and our allies in power.

And considering that the meeting was held at the initiative of CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov, and Levchenko himself is a member of this party, the main interest here was purely partisan — publicity. I don’t recall a single instance where CPRF events led the system toward real changes; on the contrary, they play the role of “systemic opposition.”

And yet, despite everything, the issues were voiced aloud once again! They said publicly what needed to be said. Let me give a few more quotes from Gennady Zyuganov.

“Lake Baikal is the eighth wonder of the world. I was lucky — I have been to eighty countries and seen all the greatest landmarks on the planet. But nothing more magnificent than Lake Baikal exists on Earth. We must protect, safeguard, and save this treasure with all our strength, especially today, when greedy, predatory people have lost their natural conscience and personal responsibility. For their own profit, they are ready to destroy anything. They have already destroyed the great Soviet country, whose creation became an example for all mankind. They have already cast doubt on our great Victory. They have already pitted Russians and Ukrainians — one and the same people — against each other. We have been fighting for almost four years. They are ready to encroach on Lake Baikal. We have no right to allow this.”

“Today the fight for Baikal continues. We discussed an oil pipeline with the president. They proposed running it along the Baikal shoreline. They said it would be reliable. I replied: ‘No pipeline lasts more than 25–30 years. That is a seismic zone. That is utter nonsense!’ I asked the president to gather scientists and academics, and together with the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences they decided to shift the pipeline 250–300 kilometers to the north — and that is where it was built. Had it been built along Baikal’s shore, it would have been a crime for the ages. Because if the pipeline burst and covered Baikal with its film, the entire ecosystem would die.”

“It is fundamentally important for us now to do everything to refine the law that has been submitted. Our faction did not vote for it in the first reading. We voted against it. We insisted on thorough refinement with all specialists. Scientists brought me a large report. We met with Feticov and Greshnevikov, who, despite being in different factions, consistently defend Baikal. We listened to proposals from the Government and ministries. We told the developers: ‘We will strongly support you, but with one big “but”: we will support the law only if it benefits Baikal, only if it protects Baikal, only if it safeguards Baikal.’

We are all guests in this world. But Baikal will remain the greatest treasure for everyone, especially for the younger generation. We will be guided by this highest consideration while preparing recommendations and listening to your proposals. I’ll tell you directly: this is a fight for ecology. It is very difficult work. I understood that oligarchy is evil, that financial oligarchy gave rise to fascism, which inevitably unleashes wars. We now truly see the accuracy of the Marxist-Leninist teachings that allow us to make such conclusions. We see that if greedy, evil, anti-nature, anti-human appetites are not restrained, they will destroy anything.”

“I come from a family of hereditary teachers. There are ten teachers in my family who taught in schools and universities over 350 years. I myself began working as a rural schoolteacher at the age of 17, later taught mathematical analysis at my university, and studied philosophy. But my family has also kept bees for 350 years. I have my own apiary. Whoever tries to justify the treason of Gorbachev and Yeltsin since 1991 — history will judge them as criminals. The question is not whether they are alive or not. The question is the evaluation of their policies. The blood flowing in Ukraine’s fields is a consequence of their policies.

Since 1991, Russia’s population has decreased by 31 million people. Yesterday the Russian Council took place. They claim to support Russian culture and spirituality. But when I see a new ‘Vlasov movement’, I feel uneasy. When people who can barely speak Russian begin to denigrate our great Soviet era — this is disgraceful, especially in the year of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. We must unite the people, as the president calls us to do, make new discoveries, advance technologies. And to advance technologies, we must develop science, educate cultured, educated people, and invest the best resources into this! Only then will we get the proper results.

Besides people, our country once had 10 million bee colonies. We held first place in the world. Seven million were destroyed. And bees are responsible for 80% of the planet’s food production. Without them, humanity will die out in 15 years. And the Yeltsin clique refused to sign a law to save them. I went to President Putin and explained that we prepared a bill, held hearings, and organized a world beekeepers’ forum in the Kremlin Palace. Now they have begun saving bees, though with great difficulty and struggle. They import more than 70 types of chemicals from all over the world that are banned everywhere else and spray entire fields. Go to these fields — it is a dead green zone. No mosquitoes, no midges, no bees, no birds — nothing. And they put this produce on our tables. Now the same people are trying to do the same thing to Baikal. We must adopt the strictest measures!

I say officially: our National Patriotic Union, centered around the CPRF, will adopt and support the law only under a strict condition — if measures are introduced that prohibit clear-cutting. And do not hide behind narrow, private interests. The main priority must be the protection of nature and the protection of people. This must begin with the protection of soul and conscience. Only then will everything be in order.”

These were long quotes, but I think the position needed to be conveyed in full. We can say the CPRF is an ally, but largely this is party promotion.

So, comrades!

At the moment, the draft law has not yet been adopted, but it can be pushed through at any moment. Another meeting has already taken place in Moscow — completely pointless in my opinion. Once again they will collectively send a paper to the head of the State Duma Committee on Ecology Dmitry Kobylkin, once again repeating what the entire lobbying group already knows word for word.

The real power now lies with society! An independent civil society that unanimously stands up to defend Baikal. Let us continue this struggle and not stop.

• Take part in our Public Initiative to raise awareness and prevent the issue from being buried
• Join our Nationwide Flashmob to protect Baikal

© PAVEL PASHKOV