Alexander Khudilainen is preparing especially valuable forests on the banks of Ladoga for investors

Alexander Khudilainen is preparing especially valuable forests on the banks of Ladoga for investors

The Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, at the suggestion of the government of the Republic of Karelia, cuts out almost 4,000 hectares from the future Ladoga Skerries National Park for the implementation of investment projects. The main interest is presumably the structures of OAO NK Rosneft, which previously announced plans to build a large health-improving complex in the Ladoga region. The sale of sites included in the protected area in the protected area, the project of which has already passed an environmental review, can in theory bring an astronomical amount to the republican budget, but in reality disrupt the work on creating a national park, which Vladimir Putin personally demanded to speed up. The final decision on adjusting the boundaries of the national park is expected within the next week.

A month ago, nothing foreshadowed trouble. On the contrary, there was confidence that the long-term saga with the creation of the Ladoga Skerries National Park (and the first plans for the creation of a protected area date back to 1989) is nearing a successful conclusion. The Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources by its order dated January 29, 2016, approved the conclusion of the state environmental review of the materials of the comprehensive survey, justifying the granting of the status of federal protected areas to the territory. The next step was to be the decision of the government of the Russian Federation on the creation of the park. But already on February 15, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, the participants of which decided on the need to exclude land plots with an area of ​​about 3,750 hectares from the territory of the projected Ladoga Skerries National Park in order to accommodate socially significant objects. The initiative came from the Karelian authorities, or rather, personally from the head of the Republic of Karelia, Alexander Khudilainen, who turned to the federal center with a corresponding request.

Cutting for life

According to sources in the Karelian Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology, the territory of the Rautalakhti peninsula and the Sammatsaari island in the Sortavalsky district of Karelia, belonging to the Ladoga district forestry, and several smaller areas in the Oppolsky and Helyulsky forestries are almost completely withdrawn from the national park. Despite the fact that the total area of ​​the projected protected area is more than 120 thousand hectares, of which about 40 thousand are in the water area, the rest is in the forest fund lands, such a loss will be extremely painful. According to the head of the Karelian environmental organization SPOK, Olga Ilyina, at the design stage, in order to avoid conflicts with local residents, several large fragments were cut out of the park - further reduction of its area will lead to the impossibility of effective protection of valuable natural objects. “If you look at the map of the park, you can see that its territory is stretched along the northwestern coast of Lake Ladoga and the excluded areas actually cut it into two unequal parts. And most importantly, most of the Rautalahti peninsula is classified as a protected area - this is one of the best preserved areas of the Ladoga forests, which is of high conservation value, - notes Ilyina. “Formally, the park will lose about 5% of its territory, but the already small area of ​​its protected area will be reduced by almost a third.”

Secret sabotage

Aleksey Travin, coordinator of the New Ecological Project public organization, who joined the struggle to preserve the Ladoga Skerries back in 2006, notes that the republican authorities opposed the idea of ​​a national park from the very beginning and sabotaged the process of its creation in every possible way. “Both under Sergei Katanandov, and under Andrei Nelidov, who replaced him as head of Karelia, the process of preparing and coordinating materials was constantly dragged out,” notes the ecologist. “Some positive developments took place only under pressure from the federal Ministry of Natural Resources.”

One of Alexander Khudilainen's first steps as the head of the republic in 2012 was to address the government of the Russian Federation with a request to create a national park (without the representation of the authorities of the subject, it was impossible to start the procedure for creating a federal protected area). But, according to Travin, there are reasonable suspicions that the new head of the republic simply did not understand what exactly he had signed then, because of which one of the deputy ministers of natural resources of the region, who prepared the documents for signature, was even dismissed. In the same 2012, President Vladimir Putin demanded that the government speed up work on the creation of the Ladoga Skerries National Park, and the republican authorities had no opportunity to backtrack. But this does not mean that they have resigned themselves to the fact that the "golden land" along the coast of Ladoga literally floated away from under their noses.

Court move

In the light of recent events, one gets the impression that the leadership of Karelia was able to use the process of creating a national park in their own interests. Almost the entire territory along the coast of Lake Ladoga, including the islands, was leased back in 2006, on the eve of the transfer of forest powers to the regions, at the suggestion of the then leadership of Rosleskhoz. But in 2015, the Ministry of Natural Resources of Karelia, in agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, judicially terminated the lease agreements for forest fund plots in the Ladoga Skerries for the purpose of creating a federal protected area. In particular, the plots on the Rautalahti peninsula and Sammatsaari island were excluded from the lease of Sortaval LPH LLC in January 2015. That is, plots were seized from the old tenant under the pretext of creating a national park, and Karelian officials are seizing them from the projected park in the interests of another investor.

The issue of excluding sites is being worked out in the most closed mode, and at the moment there is no reliable information about which investors and which projects will be implemented in this territory. But,

according to sources close to the Karelian ministry, this primarily concerns structures associated with OAO NK Rosneft, which explains both the personal involvement of Alexander Khudilainen in resolving the issue and the unexpectedly loyal position of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation.

Complicated interest

Information about Rosneft's interest appeared back in 2014, when an agreement on strategic partnership was concluded between the oil producing company and the government of Karelia. Alexander Khudilainen, following the results of his meeting with the head of Rosneft Oil Company Igor Sechin, said that the company had decided to build a large health center in the Ladoga region. According to the source, the issue of a possible allocation of sites within the boundaries of the projected protected area began to be worked out a year ago, but initially did not find support in the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation.

The fact that the Ministry of Natural Resources agreed to adjust the project, despite the expertise passed, confirms that an investor with great lobbying opportunities is claiming the territory, potentially allowing not only to adjust the boundaries of the national park, but also to transfer the Forest Fund lands to another category, which can be decided only at the government level. And such a development of events seems very likely. It is appropriate to recall that the current head of Karelia in the past already had a successful experience in selling forest land during the period of leadership of the Gatchina district of the Leningrad region, having appeared in a high-profile criminal case on the illegal alienation of the lands of the Siversky forest in 2005. True, the scale there was much smaller.

According to Olga Ilyina from SPOK, it was possible to pick up vacant plots in the Ladoga region that were in no way worse in terms of recreation and did not have any restrictions for development. There was no urgent need to climb into the protected area of ​​the park, but they nevertheless decided to climb into it, despite the inevitable complications. The option of transferring the territory withdrawn from the park to a long-term lease simply does not justify the efforts expended. On the other hand, the withdrawal from the composition of the lands of the Forest Fund will turn these plots into a super-liquid asset, the value of which, if we take into account the market price of land in the same area, according to the most rough estimates, can be measured in tens of billions of rubles. Which, by the way, is comparable to the annual budget of the Republic of Karelia (29.3 billion for 2015).

It is unlikely that this story will be a salvation for the republican budget, which is losing weight due to the crisis. It is much easier to imagine that plots for "socially significant projects" will, as usual, be allocated for designated purposes, and it's good if for a tenth of their real market value. But

for the head of Karelia, Alexander Khudilainen, whose position has been shaken by a reprimand from the president in February, it may be more important to receive political dividends.

The government of the republic will have to account for attracting investments within the framework of the federal target program for the development of Karelia until 2020, timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which is now in danger of failure. Therefore, another project with a nominal value of even several billion rubles may be a salvation for Karelian officials.

Diversion against the park

Regardless of what goals the intrigue of the Karelian authorities pursues, into which the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation is involved, it sets a “mine” under the entire project of the Ladoga Skerries National Park.

Making changes to the design of protected areas after it has passed the state environmental review will make it vulnerable from a legal point of view.

In fact, there are grounds for challenging both the conclusion of the examination itself and any normative acts that will be adopted on its basis, which any interested person can do. Under the current conditions, according to environmentalists, this could slow down the creation of the park for another two or three years: a re-examination will require money that is not in the budget.

During this time, the territory of the future park may shrink even more, including due to the lands of the state land reserve, which were planned to be included in the PAs at the second stage (at the first stage, only the lands of the Forest and Water Funds will be included in the park). In fact, the government of Karelia is already putting these plots up for sale, although it should have reserved them for the purpose of creating protected areas. So, on the portal "Republic of Karelia for the Investor" there was found a card of an investment project involving the sale of 13 land plots for recreational purposes, with an area of ​​137.1 hectares, located in the eastern part of Sammatsaari Island - the corresponding page is hidden so that it is impossible to find it through the main menu of the site .

This may mean that the sabotage against the national park was deliberately planned and then the case will not be limited to the exclusion of the mentioned 3750 hectares - in two years the territory of the "Ladoga Skerries" can be torn to shreds. Or did Alexander Khudilainen, by his initiative, unwittingly provoke a classic conflict of priorities, in fact, putting the interests of Rosneft Oil Company above the instructions of the head of state? Such a conflict can be resolved in the most unpredictable way, including for its initiator.

Anastasia Filippova