Environmental activist Svetlana Kuznetsova was beaten in the Voronezh region

A civil activist who opposed the development of nickel deposits in the Voronezh region was beaten near her own entrance in the city of Borisoglebsk. The incident occurred at about six in the morning, when Svetlana Kuznetsova was going to go to work, the 7x7 online publication reports.

Kuznetsova said that in the morning at the entrance she was expected by a man in a mask. He hit her first on the head, and then on the back. After the brawl, the woman managed to push the attacker, run back into the entrance and slam the door on which there is a code lock. Running into the apartment and calling her wife, Svetlana again went out into the street, but there was no longer the attacker.

Soon, the victim had to call an ambulance due to a headache and heart problems, the website of the "Movement in Defense of Hopra" says. “Naturally, I received a terrible fright and another heart attack today. But the invaders did not break me again,” the VKontakte nickel group said in her message in the group against Nickel's extraction.

The woman connected the attack with her civic activity. "I am one hundred percent sure that this is the last agony of the UMMC, which has threatened us more than once, burned the houses of our associates, was engaged in bribery," her message said. She later wrote a statement to the police on the fact of the attack.

UMMC is the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company. Kuznetsova is the leader of the Stop-Nickel movement, which, together with the "traffic in the defense of Hopra", prevented the company from starting the development of copper-nickel deposits.

According to the activist Nina Martianova, the handwriting of the attack says that it was organized by the same people who organized previous attacks: "Activist Andrei Tarakanov beat a brand in the nose, others were also beaten, doused with green." Martyanova also connected the incident with the UMMC and accused the Governor of the Voronezh region Alexei Gordeev of involvement in the incident.

Who opposes Nickel

In early 2012, it became known that the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use will announce a competition for the development of copper-nickel deposits in the Voronezh region. The competition was won by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company. After that, residents of the city began to be interested in prey and found that the development of the field was fraught with environmental pollution, the Russian reporter magazine said.

After that, residents of neighboring cities began to arrange huge rallies for small villages. Initiative groups appeared. Even the Cossacks arranged prayers and processions around the field. In May 2013, a fight broke out between the geologists and the Cossacks, in which one of the leaders of the "anti -nickel movement" Igor Zhitenev was beaten.

The authorities began the struggle: all activists who worked in state institutions were dismissed, and they were transferred to all state employees so that they were not at rallies. They tried to bribe one of the activists, to intimidate someone. Later Zhitenev was arrested for extortion. According to Radio "Freedom" , it is still under investigation. The human rights center "Memorial" recognized him as a political prisoner.