Khimki Forest activist arrested for holding banner during picket action

Russian activist Yaroslav Nikitenko was arrested by police on Saturday during a legally permitted picket action in the town of Khimki near Moscow. The action was part of the campaign to change the route of the planned Moscow-St Petersburg motorway so that it avoids the Khimki Forest.

The arrest came as Nikitenko attempted to hold up a banner with the message: We all live in Khimki Forest. The picket action was held to distribute information about alternative routings of the Moscow-St. Petersburg motorway in advance of public hearings about the project due to take place this week.

Nikitenkos arrest is the latest in a series of unfounded detentions of Khimki Forest campaigners, who have also been subjected to various legal obstacles as well as physical attacks. Tree felling in the forest began in July this year without all the relevant permits, yet the EUR 1.5 billion first section of the motorway is still under consideration for financing by the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Both banks have expressed their commitment to free speech but to date there is little evidence of their supposedly benign influence having any effect as a string of controversies surrounding the project over the summer months shows no signs of abating. As the European Commission considers granting a European Community guarantee to the motorway project that would act as insurance for the EIB's potential EUR 200 million investment, how many more crackdowns against law-abiding Khimki Forest campaigners will it tolerate?

A recent article from The Christian Science Monitor explains how power politics and corrupt practices are overlapping to squeeze the defenders of the ancient Khimki Forest.