One in Every Four Russians – 35 Million People – Suffers from Air Pollution, but Moscow Now Trying to Hide This, ‘To Be Precise’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 26 – This year, the Russian government sharply reduced the release of data on the contamination of the atmosphere coming from industrial plants and automobiles, but the To Be Precise portal has gained access to the materials Moscow has assembled but not released and says they show that one in every four Russians is suffering from bad air.

            The impact of such environmental contamination on public health is not trivial. According to the last data on the subject released, more than 80,000 Russians died from the consequences of bad air in 2019 (tochno.st/materials/v-nachale-goda-vlasti-skryli-statistiku-vrednykh-vybrosov-ot-promyshlennykh-obektov-po-vsey-strane-nam-udalos-dostat-eti-dannye-rasskazyvaem-kto-otvechaet-za-gryaznyy-vozdukh-v-rossii).

            That number has almost certainly risen as has the number of firms contaminating the air and the impact of automobiles and trucks on the environment, the portal continues; but now the Russian government, reflecting its general trend of not releasing information that may anger people or show the government’s failing, is refusing to release the figures it had been putting out.

            Among the key findings in the now-suppressed government report are three: the amount of industrial pollution has not fallen over the last 20 years despite Kremlin claims to the contrary, more than half of all contamination comes from firms in just 10 regions, and seven of the nine largest polluters are from Gazprom branches.