Yevgeny Titov, Novaya Gazeta correspondent in the Krasnodar Region
Putin's warnings ignored in Sochi
Environmentalists regard the felling of trees on the Grushevoi Ridge as the start of the destruction of a unique natural preserve, the Environmental Watch for the North Caucasus has declared.
Ecologists regard the commercial interests of big companies as a threat. According to the group, trees are being cut on the territory which is simultaneously part of two protected areas, Sochi National Park and the Sochi State Reserve. By now, about 40 trees have been cut without authorisation.
"Clearly, the trees are being cut to clear the land for construction," the chairman of the Environmental Watch for the North Caucasus, Andrei Rudomakha, told Novaya Gazeta.
Although Prime Minister Putin has ordered that the bobsled track be moved from the Grushevoi Ridge to the mountain Olympic village, plans are still on to build a biathlon complex there, along with the Yuriev Khutor recreation cpmplex, VIP hotels, and a gulf course.
According to environmentalists, the area is being eyed by the company Interros and by Svetlana Guryeva, advisor to the President of Russia's Olympic Committee, Leonid Tyagachov.
Guryeva's commercial interests are one of the main driving forces behind the idea of developing the Grushevoi Ridge. The environmentalists will take their complaints to UNESCO's World Heritage Committee and the UN's Environmental Programme.
