Page 34 - RusRPTNov19

has seen its popularity decline in recent months. But it is also explained by
environmental protests that have swept Russia in recent years, most notably
over huge landfill sites. While these local campaigns have not resulted in direct
confrontation with the Kremlin, demonstrators are bitterly critical of the
authorities and there is an obvious risk of further politicization. It appears the
Kremlin thinks a Green Party could defuse some of these tensions, and
function as a vehicle to control any environmental movement.
Climate change scepticism is common in Russia, one of the world’s biggest producers of fossil fuels, and a survey last year showed only 14% of
Russians were “very worried” about climate change, the lowest level in
Europe.However ambivalent people are, there is little doubt the effects of
climate change are already being felt in Russia. Average temperatures have
increased 2.5 times faster than the rest of the world, according to a 2014 study
(Rus) by the state weather agency, and further rises are likely to bring more
forest fires, droughts and flooding. One of the biggest problems of global
warming is melting permafrost in the Arctic that officials estimate already costs
the Russian economy up to $2.3bn a year. Russia is the world’s fourth biggest
emitter of greenhouse gases.
The government has watered down the originally ambitious climate
change legislation following pressure from the RSPP business lobby and
basically gutted it. The plan to introduce CO2 charges has been dropped. The
move follows Russia’s announcement last month that it was ratifying the Paris
climate accords. The latest draft of the national climate plan introduced in
October had seen significant changes, including the scrapping of fines for
exceeding limits on greenhouse gas emissions. This was a result of objections
from several ministries and lobbying from big business, according to
Kommersant, which quoted the head of the Center for Ecological Investment are expected to be passed later this year.
Mikhail Yulkin as saying it looked clear that “for all practical purposes, they [the
government] are not going to do anything.” However toothless, the new laws
The Centre for social and labour rights, a Russian NGO dedicated to
workers’ rights, released a new report on protests across Russia. The
Centre counted a stable 429 and 434 protests in the first and second quarters
of 2019, with “civil” and “political” protests comprising the bulk of the total in the
second quarter. While social protests have declined since the fourth quarter of
2018, ecological protests are on the rise, increasing from 35, 43 and 56 in the
last three quarters. Overall, according to the head of the NGO’s monitoring
department, only two regions in Russia saw no protests at all: Chechnya, and
the icy northeastern region of Chukotka.
State Duma deputies vote against legislation less than 1% of the time , a new study shows. From September 2018 to September 2019, 72% of all
Duma votes were “for” legislation, 0.7% were “against,” and 0.06% were
“abstentions.” When lawmakers disagree with legislation, they often do not
participate in voting. Non-participation accounted for 26% of total voting, as
lawmakers attempt to hide their dissent. This trend applies to all parties.
Russia’s electoral system is still driving the discussion with a report
from the Institute of Socio-economic and Political Research looking at
potentialchanges aheadofthe2021Dumaelections, inparticularthe
switch to a 75/25 system reportedly considered by the Kremlin. According to
the system, 75% of seats would be attributed by single-mandate districts and
34 RUSSIA Country Report November 2019 www.intellinews.o