Water is worth its weight

In Tyu, residents overlap the roads: they fear that gold mining in the river will spoil drinking water

In Tyu, protests began against the hint of gold: the authorities admit that it is environmentally insecure, but they do not take already issued licenses. The environmental conflict is also associated with the struggle for the post of head of the region, says the interlocutor of Novaya Gazeta Europe.

The equipment did not leave, they took it to the police

Last week, on Wednesday, residents of the village of Saylyg Cedi-Kholsky district, Tyva blocked the bridge and did not miss the Oino Artel technique, which is engaged in a dummy of gold in the local river. Local officials came to the bridge and seemed to promise that the gold miners would leave, but then the police nevertheless detained several people. On Friday, one of the participants was fined five thousand rubles, the cases of five more residents have not yet been considered.

- We will continue to protest: they destroy nature, especially water. After them, it is impossible to drink water, and we have nowhere to take it more from us, ”says one of the participants in the protest .

Residents of the village had already protested against the activities of Oina in 2024 and also blocked the bridge.

- In fact, prospectors have the right to carry out various work on the documents of federal bodies, but with residents of the district the issue was not agreed and not submitted for discussion. Occasionally, prospectors arrived and promised the Golden Mountains to the villagers. Earlier at meetings with residents, prospectors promised to conclude an agreement with the municipality. However, nothing of the kind was done. Therefore, residents on their own initiative gather and express their legitimate opinion about the work of the artel. The protocols are drawn up on them, despite the fact that residents do not put forward political or illegal demands, ”says another resident of the village .

Nice for gold threatens rivers

Cedi-Kholsky district is located in the center of Tyvy, occupies 3.7 thousand square kilometers, 7.7 thousand people live in several villages of the district. The region is equated with areas of the Far North: this status is given places with a harsh climate located far from megacities.

-The artel is tied to the family of Oleg Dudko, ex-deputy Khural. She owns 35% control over Oyna. This is a family that has an influence through United Russia, ”said anti -corruption expert Ilya Shumanov .

Oleg Dudko was a deputy of the Tyvinsky parliament from 2014 to 2024. The regional website of United Russia states that he began his career in 1990, workers in Oin, and in 2013 he became the chairman of the artel. In 2024, the son of Oleg Dudko Anatoly went to the Tyvinsky parliament on the list of "new people".

In June of this year, Tuva introduced a moratorium on the issuance of new licenses for the extraction of postal gold in several regions of the region, including in Cedi-Kholsky. The authorities position this decision as their victory and the result of a long lobbying at the federal level. About this, standing under the portraits of Vladimir Putin and a native of the region, Sergei Shoiga, still in military uniform, the Minister of Nature Management Grigory Ondar told reporters. The moratorium concerns the issuance of new licenses: previously obtained “oynaya” permission does not fall under it.

Moatorons, limiting for ecological reasons, alluvials of alloy gold were introduced earlier in Khakassia (Oyna alsoworked there), Bashkortostan , Kamchatka , Kuzbass .

- Gold mining - a market with a limited number of players, greatly connected with the state. The ban in Tylya concerns the scattering gold, which is washed out in the rivers. These are not mines, this is a much smaller market volume. Artels and small enterprises work there, ”Schumanov explains.

At the end of August of this year, the Prosecutor General's Office published a press release that Oina paid a fine of 75 million rubles for natural pollution in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

“The subsoil user dumped the unpeeled drains into the Amille River, which led to its pollution. In addition, the channel of the River of the River of the River was changed, which also led to the pollution of the water body. The laboratory tests of the selected water samples in the rivers showed an excess of permissible concentrations of pollutants by 38 times, ”the department said.

Tyvinsky activists distribute a video with the logo of the Prosecutor General. The record shows that the river in the Krasnoyarsk Territory caused a clear damage. In its large section, instead of a channel, heaps of dirt and large puddles of brown water. According to information from the Contour. Focus base, the revenue of Oinna in 2024 amounted to 6.1 billion rubles.

Until they are sternly punished

The ATS-INFO told Novaya Gazeta Europe that fines of 5 thousand rubles for overlapping the road-at the present time a liberal measure of influence.

For overlapping the road during a rally against the destruction of local self -government, several residents of the Altai Republic were recently appointed 13-14 days of administrative arrest. Many participants in the environmental protests are faced with criminal prosecution, human rights defenders note.

The popular Tyvinsk journalist Almira Sendy wrote in her telegram channel that the Oinan artel has all permits for work, and is also a major taxpayer Tyva, “supports and sponsor educational, social and humanitarian projects”. “I want to warn fellow countrymen against participating in such unauthorized events. A criminal case can also be instituted for participation in them, ”the journalist warns.

The interlocutor of Novaya Gazeta Europe, a political strategist from Tyva , spoke about the “actual support by the protests by the authorities.”

- The positions of the head of the republic are very shaky, against him - Shoigu and the associated forces. And a year later - the election of the governor. Given the presence of a powerful opposition in the republic related to the former head of [Sholban] Kara-ool and Shoigu, the election results are not predetermined, even despite support from Sergei Kiriyenko. The environmental topic in Tuva has always been electorally very significant, and the gold mining companies could not offer the conditions that are profitable for the surroundings of the head of the republic, now there is a bargain, he notes.

At the time of publication of the text , representatives of Oina did not respond to the request of Novaya Gazeta Europe.