https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5433-9120
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Abstract
This article examines Russian environmental politics under Putin. It explores the extent to which Putin participates in the environmental policymaking process, concentrating on his role in agenda-setting and policy development. It also investigates the way that environmental issues are framed, and their function within the political system. The findings indicate that Putin plays a key role in shaping the policy agenda but is not involved in the day-to-day policymaking. In contemporary Russia, the environment has become a tool, and on occasions, a weapon, used by Putin to serve a broader agenda. The environment represents a source of regime stability and legitimacy, important for projecting state power to a domestic and international audience, managing demands from the population, and as a way of controlling civil society. Questions remain, however, as to how sustainable this approach to environmental issues is in the longer term.
Notes
1 See for example, Pryde (Citation1972), Komarov (Citation1980), Ziegler (Citation1987).
2 See especially Newell and Henry (Citation2016).
3 There was no address in 2017, with the next one held in March 2018 just prior to the presidential election.
4 The term was coined by the prominent Russian environmentalist, Aleksei Yablokov, who died in January 2017.
5 See, for example, Bradshaw (Citation2007).
6 As of January 2017, US$1 = R56.24.
7 Konstitutsiya Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 12 December 1993, available at: http://www.constitution.ru/index.htm, accessed 9 December 2020.
8 No address was held in 2017.
9 Medvedev complained at a meeting in 2010 that it had not been properly implemented (see Martus Citation2017c, p. 137).
10 Konstitutsiya Rossiiskoi Federatsii, 12 December 1993, available at: http://www.constitution.ru/index.htm, accessed 9 December 2020.
11 Gosudarstvennaya Duma, available at: http://www.duma.gov.ru/systems/law/, accessed 10 January 2018.
12 Sistema Obespecheniya Zakonodatel’noi Deyatel’nosti (SOZD), Zakonoproekt No. 95355-4, available at: http://sozd.parlament.gov.ru/bill/95355-4, accessed 14 January 2018. A total of 664 bills within this branch of legislation was introduced to the Duma in this period. This figure includes all bills pertaining to natural resources, not just the environment.
13 Strategiya ekologicheskoi bezopasnosti Rossiiskoi Federatsii na period do 2025 goda, 19 April 2017, available at: http://kremlin.ru/acts/bank/41879, accessed 9 December 2020.
14 A Poruchenie (or directive) is a form of executive regulation, which instructs the government to take action on a particular issue. The prime minister then issues instructions to individual ministries. It is a tool used frequently by Medvedev and Putin.
15 See, for example, Skorlygina (Citation2006). See also, ‘The Transneft Pacific Pipeline Project’, Greenpeace Russia, 2005, available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/Russia/ed/campaigns/lake-baikal/the-transneft-pacific-pipeline/, accessed 15 July 2017.
16 The pipeline case is not the only example of the environmental movement posing a challenge to the regime. Another prominent case was the Khimki Forest protests in 2010 (for details see Evans Jr Citation2012) and the involvement of a key figure from the Khimki protests, Yevgeniya Chirikova, who became a leader in the 2011–2013 anti-government protests.
17 The term ‘foreign agent’ has negative connotations of being a spy or traitor. For a discussion of the implications of the law for environmental groups, see Newell and Henry (Citation2016, p. 15).
18 The list is available on the website of the Ministry for Justice: ‘O Deyatel’nosti Nekommercheskikh Organizatsii’, Ministerstvo Yustitsii Rossiiskoi Federatsii, available at: http://unro.minjust.ru/NKOforeignagent.aspx, accessed 8 May 2017.
19 The protest had taken place a few months prior in September that year, leading to the arrest of the activists involved. It should be noted that the protest was undertaken by Greenpeace International, not Greenpeace Russia.
20 ‘Ob uchastii Rossii v Parizhskom soglashenii po klimatu’, Pravitel’stvo Rossii, 23 September 2019, available at: http://government.ru/docs/37917/, accessed 9 December 2020.
21 ‘Russian Federation’, Climate Action Tracker, 6 November 2017, available at: http://climateactiontracker.org/countries/russianfederation.html, accessed 9 December 2020.
22 ‘Rasporyazhenie ot 2 iyunya 2016 g.’, Pravitel’stvo Rossiiskoi Federatsii, No. 1082-r, 2 June 2016.
23 2017 was also the Year of Specially Protected Natural Territories.
24 Plan Osnovnykh meropriyatii po provedeniyu v 2017 godu v Rossiiskoi Federatsii Goda ekologii, June 2016.
25 ‘God ekologii polozhil nachalo “zelenym” peremenam v Rossii’, TASS, 27 December 2017, available at: https://tass.ru/obschestvo/4843698, accessed 13 April 2019.
26 ‘Osnovnye result’taty raboty Ministerstva prirodnykh resursov i ekologii Rossiiskoi Federatsii za 2017 god’, Pravitel’stvo Rossii, 12 April 2018, available at: http://government.ru/dep_news/32250/, accessed 1 December 2020.
27 The project is titled ‘Clean Country’ and is a subprogramme of the State Programme on Environmental Protection 2012–2020, available at: https://programs.gov.ru/Portal/programs/subActionsList?gpId=12&pgpId=ff82b3c1-d925-476f-bc84-b52c8c83d0b9, accessed 9 December 2020.
28 For a discussion see Wu and Martus (Citation2020).
29 See, for example, VTsIOM (Citation2019).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ellie Martus
Ellie Martus, Lecturer in Public Policy, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia. Email: [email protected]