Arkhangelsk Oblast’s authorities explained the visit of the police to the Shies station and suggested that activists monitor the reclamation through webcams
The report says that on January 26, representatives of the Yarensk Forestry handed the activists of Shies a resolution demanding that the camp be raised by February 3, as it interferes with the reclamation. At that time, according to the government’s press relations service, there were 16 buildings for accommodation and providing accommodation on the site.
According to the Deputy Chairman of the Government of Arkhangelsk Oblast Evgeny Avtushenko, if the camp is not raised, the stages of reclamation will be disrupted.
"There are different ways to monitor the reclamation: you can do it through Technopark’s cameras, the livestream is broadcast on their website, you can watch it from the territory’s perimeter, stepping down from the site, where the layout for subsequent earth backing and planting should be done," commented Avtushenko.
The press relations service reported that employees of the Ministry of Natural Resources and law enforcement agencies, who arrived at the Shies station on February 4, had stated that the eco-activists had not complied with the requirements of the regulation. The press relations service added that they did not hold information about the detention of people at Shies. It is not known whether the camp will be demolished.
The activists reported in the morning of February 4 that more than 10 police cars had left in the direction of the Shies station in Arkhangelsk Oblast. The police blocked the entry roads to the station and detained activist Andrei Banshchik, and the camp became unavailable. In January, the police already visited the activists and demanded that they raise the camp within three days, but they refused to do that, quoting the Governor of Arkhangelsk Oblast Alexander Tsybulsky who promised that the camp would remain in place until the work was completed.
The Technopark Company suggested moving the camp outside the site back in December 2020. The developer said on its website that the tent camp prevented starting works on cleaning the territory of 15 hectares from soil piles. The company referred to an agreement reached by its representatives, the regional government, and the administration of the village of Urdoma. The activists stated they knew nothing about this agreement and also called the reclamation “barbaric”.
The construction of a landfill for the import of waste from Moscow began at station Shies on the border of Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Komi Republic in the summer of 2018 without permits. Residents of the region and the neighboring Komi Republic began protesting, and activists set up a tent camp near the construction site of the landfill and organized a 24-hour duty there. In December 2019, it became known that Moscow had not included Shies in its territorial waste management scheme for the next 10 years. In October 2020, Technopark announced the termination of the landfill construction at Shies and promised to reclaim the territory by the summer of 2021.