Baseball bat attack hospitalises Khimki Forest activist, latest violence connected with controversial Moscow-St Petersburg motorway plans
November 4, 2010
Environmental and human rights activist Konstantin Fetisov of Khimki near Moscow was today assaulted near his house by unknown assailants wielding a baseball bat and is now in a serious condition in hospital.
Khimki Forest activist arrested for holding banner during picket action
September 13, 2010
Russian activist Yaroslav Nikitenko was arrested by police on Saturday during a legally permitted picket action in the town of Khimki near Moscow. The action was part of the campaign to change the route of the planned Moscow-St Petersburg motorway so that it avoids the Khimki Forest.
In Moscow, thousands protest destruction of Khimki Forest
August 23, 2010
In spite of heavy policing, several thousand people yesterday rallied at a concert in Pushkin Square to voice opposition to the destruction of the Khimki Forest to make way for the EUR 1.5 billion first section of the Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway, a project that may receive financial blessings from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.
Khimki Forest movement leader violently detained in Moscow
August 4, 2010
Yevgenia Chirikova, the leader of the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest, has today been forcibly detained by police in Moscow immediately after a press conference on the persecution of activists opposing the construction of a motorway through the Khimki Forest just outside Moscow. [1] At the time of writing she has been released after several hours of interrogation, but urged to come to Khimki’s police station tomorrow for another round of questioning.
Groups blast veiled decision-making at European Commission as mining industry revels in rejection of crucial Parliamentary resolution
July 7, 2010
Environmental organisations have today criticised Commissioner Janez Potocnik for heeding mining industry lobbyists over a democratically elected European Parliament, in failing to open public discussions and rejecting a resolution to ban the use of cyanide in mining processes throughout the European Union.
Bulgarian parliament hears the anti-cyanide concerns of thousands
January 21, 2010
Today at the Bulgarian parliament’s Petitions Committee three public petitions related to controversial mining initiatives were heard, in a process described by ‘Cyanide Free Bulgaria’ campaigners as encouraging and not before time.
New ban on cyanide mining in Hungary gives hope across the region
December 22, 2009
A ban on all cyanide-based mining technologies on Hungarian territory that was passed by 356 votes in favour to one vote against in Hungary’s parliament earlier this month has strengthened hopes of other national bans – even a Europe-wide ban – ahead of the tenth anniversary of the Baia Mare disaster next month.
Change the lending, not the climate
December 2, 2009
Bankwatch’s new report on the EIB’s fossil-heavy energy lending between 2002 and 2008 comes one week before the crunch global climate talks in Copenhagen, in preparation for which the international financial institutions have been flexing their rhetorical muscles.
Concerns mount over cyanide rush in Bulgarian mining projects, European Commission urged to intervene
December 1, 2009
Two Bankwatch groups and the members of the Cyanide Free Bulgaria coalition outlined today at a press conference in Sofia the ongoing problematic issues hanging over the proposed introduction of controversial cyanide leaching at the Chelopech mining project and with the Bulgarian government’s handling of the environmental procedures for wider use of cyanide in mining projects across the country.
Violations at EBRD power lines project spark clashes between police and villagers in Ukraine
November 18, 2009
A project financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the Odessa region of Ukraine has this week been the scene of clashes between 300 police officers and villagers resisting the routing of high voltage power lines through their village. The EUR 25.8 million Odessa High Voltage Grid Upgrade project is being implemented by Ukraine’s national electricity company Ukrenergo in violation of agreements with the EBRD, the international public development bank and backer of the project.
