Plotina – net!

In addition to the Eurovision, a few other interesting events are taking place in Russia this week.

First, there was a gay-rights protest that was broken up by the authorities – while a nationalistic counter-protest was allowed to take place.

Second, there is the issue of the RusGidro Plotina dam that is to be built in the upcoming year.  The company (RusGidro) is planning on going through with the project in order to sell hydroelectric energy to Mongolia and China.  The only problem is there is an indigenous ethnic group, the Evenks, that has lived in the area for as long as anyone can remember.  If the authorities and the company go through with the project (which is seems they will), the Evenk homeland will be flooded over, the delicate ecosystem destroyed, and the people forced to relocate to far less familiar environs.

The UN has apparently allready specifically called out Moscow on this one, and the company has responded by proclaiming that foreign agents are involved in an act of terrorism – and are attempting to invoke new extremism laws to curtail protest.

You can find an informative article by Paul Globle here, and the group’s website [plotina.net, or "plotina - net!"] here.