Putin’s Optimization Program Means Forest Fires in Russia Now Seven Times Larger and More than a Third Less Often Followed by Reforestation, El Murid Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 11 – As a result of Vladimir Putin’s cutbacks in the forestry sector, fires there have become seven times larger on average today than they were a decade ago and reforestation has declined by 36 percent compared to 1990. As a result, far more land is left without trees, something that promotes flooding and other problems, El Murid says

            Anatoly Nesmiyan, who uses the screen name “El Murid,” cites these disturbing figures from the RavenstvoMedia group which tracks the situation in rural parts of the country (t.me/ravenstvomedia/196) in his latest commentary on how Kremlin policy is harming the Russian Federation (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=645C76BB1FA41).

            What has happened in the forestry area, he continues, typifies what has happened to the country as a whole under Putin – the sharp reduction of all spending on development and stability in order to increase funding for repression at home and aggression abroad. “That is the policy of the country’s present leadership.”

            Indeed, El Murid says, this pattern is “the explanation for all the catastrophes both natural and manmade over the last decade or more. No one needs to invent anything: the explanation is as clear as one could possibly want.”  He says he very much hopes that he will live to see just verdicts rendered against those who have done such damage to Russia and Russians.