| Former businessman Oleg Lvovich Mitvol became deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor in April 2004 and almost immediately became one of the most prominent and scandalous newsmakers.
At first, his main field was the fight against illegally erected dacha buildings, mostly in Moscow and the near Moscow region. The most striking example of such activity was Mr. Mitvol’s struggle with the owners of the dachas in the Moscow region village of “Ekaterininskie Vali” (the village of Pyatnitsa on the Istra Reservoir) . These buildings, according to the official, were a clear violation of environmental legislation, since they were erected in a water protection zone. Armed with court rulings that recognized the authorities were right, the deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor was personally present during the attempts to demolish Pyatnitsky fences and dachas.
Oleg Lvovich’s stern gaze was also directed at other violations. For example, at the end of August 2005, an official said that his department intended to conduct a strict inspection of the Baikal water protection zone to identify illegal buildings. In addition, Mr. Mitvol promised to check the notorious Severobaikalsk pulp and paper mill, considered the main polluter of the lake, as well as wastewater treatment sewers.
In September 2004, the deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor promised to deprive People's Artist of the USSR Alla Pugacheva of a bathhouse in a country house on the shore of the same Istra reservoir. This building also, as it turned out, stood in a water protection zone. In July 2005, Rosprirodnadzor inspected the dacha of ex-Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Kasyanov in Troitse-Lykovo, around which there were well-known legal battles. Inspectors discovered that the main house on the site was built without an environmental assessment report.
Among the incidents that accompanied our hero’s environmental activities, one can note an incident at a Moscow construction site in July 2006. Mr. Mitvol, in the company of two other prominent “fighters against injustice” (Moscow deputy Sergei Mitrokhin and State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein), went to inspect the construction of the Evropeisky shopping center in front of the Kievsky railway station. Then the security of the facility, using “physical force,” did not allow high-ranking inspectors into this territory.
Another trouble was the visit of the tax inspectorate to Novye Izvestia OJSC , the controlling stake of which belonged to Mr. Mitvol’s wife at that time. This happened at the end of August 2005, shortly after Oleg Lvovich voiced environmental claims to Mikhail Kasyanov’s dacha. The OJSC's accounts were frozen, and the deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor, linking the inspection with his recent speech, promised to defend himself in court.
However, Oleg Mitvol’s activities were not limited only to the water protection zone. In April 2005, shortly before the 60th anniversary of the Victory, Rosprirodnadzor discovered that Mamayev Kurgan, once the site of fierce battles during the defense of Stalingrad, and now a natural and historical park of federal significance, was illegally built up with shops and gas stations. Then the department promised to identify the owners and contact the prosecutor's office about this case.
Mr. Mitvol also suffered from serious departments: for example, in June 2005 , he harshly criticized Russian Railways OJSC for neglecting the environment . Then, in the Zubtsovsky district of the Tver region, 860 tons of fuel oil spilled due to a railway accident. According to Oleg Lvovich, repairmen simply covered the fuel oil with crushed stone and laid sleepers and rails on top. The deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor threatened to cure the cynicism of the management of Russian Railways with the help of a “book on health, called the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.” Vladimir DZAGUTO
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