After months of mass protests against planned landfill in northern Russia, newly appointed area governors come out against the project

Since 2018, residents of Russia’s Arkhangelsk region and Komi Republic have come out by the thousands to protest the construction of a landfill near the Shiyes railway station. The site would allegedly be used to store waste imported from Moscow. Earlier this month, the governors of both regions resigned.

Now, the acting governors newly appointed to replace them have both said they oppose the construction project. The Arkhangelsk region’s Alexander Tsybulsky expressed his position to Echo of the North on April 16, and Komi’s Vladimir Uyba followed suit the following day.

The shift may signal that protests in the area have made an impact amid federal-level policy curators in Moscow. Meduza sources had previously mentioned that the previous governor of the Arkhangelsk region, at least, was slated by the Kremlin to be replaced in early April ahead of the region’s gubernatorial election in September.