The Pruidze family in flight: the forest area for the JCCC was reduced
Ivolginsky forests, which they wanted to give under the guise of the Selenginsky plant in Buryatia, turned out to be in the category of protective ones. This time, businessman Yevgeny Pruidze failed to illegally develop the Siberian forests.
On July 19, 2022, during a working meeting of the members of the Committee of the People’s Khural of Buryatia, they discussed the issue of leasing forest plots for OJSC Selenginsky Pulp and Cardboard Mill (OGRN: 1020300665604) for the implementation of an investment project. The meeting was attended by representatives of the republican authorities, forestry and the Selenginsky plant itself. In addition, residents of the region, concerned about large-scale deforestation for the JCCC, addressed the meeting participants.
Photo: press service of the People’s Khural of Buryatia.
Recall that in June, during an extraordinary session of the republican parliament, it became known that the authorities of Buryatia plan to partially give forests in the Ivolginsky district for the production of the plant, which has already gained a bad reputation due to numerous violations in the field of labor protection and ecology.
It should be noted that deforestation for the Selenginsky plant was planned not only in the territory of the Ivolginsky district, but also in other municipalities.
More than 78 thousand hectares were allocated for the needs of the JCCC in the Selenginsky district, more than 91 thousand in the Khorinsky district, almost 10 thousand in Zaigraevsky and about eight thousand in Pribaikalsky, native to the JCCC and its affiliated Baikal Forest Company.
As it turned out, some areas of the forest in the Ivolginsky district are forbidden to be cut down, as they are under special state control. In this regard, the area allocated by the Ivolginsky forests for the JCCC was forced to be reduced from 79 to 11 thousand hectares. The representatives of the plant were quite satisfied with this figure.
“During the analysis, it was found that in the forest area located on the lands of the forest fund of the Ivolginsky forestry, for the implementation of the investment project in the field of forest development of JSC Selenginsky CCC, quarters with the category of protective forests are included, in which, in accordance with the Forest Code of the Russian Federation, timber harvesting,” said Alexander Tutaev, head of the Ivolginsky forestry enterprise.
Until August 10, the administration of the Ivolginsky district was instructed to hold an open discussion of the proposed investment project with the invitation of the heads of settlements, social activists and local residents. According to Anatoly Kushnarev, deputy of the People’s Khural, such a meeting is necessary in order to reassure the population about the upcoming deforestation, although hearings are not required by law when allocating forest plots for lease.
But isn’t the concern of the inhabitants of Buryatia justified when forests are being plundered under their noses? Earlier, BABR has already talked about large-scale deforestation in the Baikalsky reserve. Then, in the period from 2017 to 2019, with the permission of the Republican Forestry Agency, more than 150 thousand cubic meters of wood were illegally cut down and sold. The damage to the forest fund was estimated at almost two billion rubles. Moreover, among the circle of people supporting the barbaric deforestation was Vissarion Pruidze, the head of the Boyle LLC company (OGRN: 1040302691571), which provides logging services.
It was “Boyle” who leased the forest plots in the Baikalsky reserve for timber harvesting. In addition, Vissarion Pruidze, together with his relative Evgeny Pruidze, who owns BLK CJSC (OGRN: 1020300779641), already had experience in obtaining permission to eliminate the consequences of emergencies by sanitary cuttings, they signed an agreement in the Republican Ministry of Natural Resources itself. Meanwhile, “BLK” does not waste time cutting down forests for sale to China, as BABR spoke about earlier.
Thus, in principle, it is dangerous to trust the Baikal forest to the Selenginsky plant, which is owned by Evgeny Pruidze. And since serious shortcomings have already been noted in the project for the development of the Ivolginsk forests, it is possible that there will also be many violations when transferring the forest lands of other regions to the STsKK.