Paul Goble
Staunton, Nov. 28 – As tensions rise over the possibility that Russia will divert part of the flow of Siberian rivers southward to Central Asia, the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Water Problems is calling for the diversion of part of the flow of the Northern Dvina and Pechora to drought-ravaged portions of Russian-occupied sections of Ukraine.
The proposal, to be made formally next week (thebarentsobserver.com/news/former-environmental-minister-vows-to-divert-water-from-northern-rivers-to-occupied-donbas/441400, will certainly spark controversy both for all the reasons that Siberian river diversion projects have and because the Pechora flows through the Komi Republic, the site of massive environmental protests in the past .
But the idea may pick up more support because it would allow Moscow to address several other serious problems: Water from the two north Russian rivers will be routed through the Kama and Volga rivers and then via the Volga-Don Canal to the Azov highlands and the Donbas.
If this river diversion scheme were carried through, it might thus help Moscow solve the problems of falling water levels that it now faces on the Volga and especially on the Volga-Don Canal (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/10/caspians-falling-water-level-hitting.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/06/falling-water-levels-forcing-moscow-to.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2025/03/siltification-of-caspian-and-volga-don.html).
Moreover, if diverting water from these two northern rivers happens, Moscow and Russians are likely to be more disposed to support the other and larger Siberian river diversion project. And for that reason in addition to the prospect of new environmental protests in Komi, the fate of this proposal deserves careful attention
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