RUSSIA: Russian villagers protest against oil giant Lukoil in Moscow, claiming the company is polluting their region

Record ID: 344399

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russian villagers protest against oil giant Lukoil in Moscow, claiming the company is polluting their region
  • Date: 6th July 2006
  • Summary: EXTERIOR LUKOIL OFFICE / TILT DOWN TO PROTESTERS CHEERING AND SPILLING OIL ON GROUND
  • Embargoed: 21st July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVABW2F74HFIXGKAWQ6UGDE092Z8
  • Story Text: Dozens of protesters gathered in front of the headquarters of Russian oil giant Lukoil in Moscow on Wednesday (July 5), claiming the company is putting a Russian village at risk from pollution.
    The protesters, calling themselves the "Protectors of the Rainbow", poured oil over a cardboard village they set up in front of the Lukoil's glass and concreted headquarters, calling on Lukoil to stop polluting the village of Pavlovo, in Russia's Perm region.
    They claim that since Lukoil started operating near the village in the Russian region of Perm in 1997, levels of oil and other toxins in their water supply have become dangerously high, killing local wildlife and making the villagers ill.
    Living among the wells of the Kukuisky oil fields, which pump out over 10 million tons of oil a year, Pavlovo villagers say Lukoil is letting chemical waste into the local water supply, including the protected local river Turayevkaya.
    They say they have scientific evidence that the mortality rate in the village has gone up since the oil fields opened, and that more people are suffering from liver damage and blood diseases.
    In a video released by the group, which they say shows local rivers and streams polluted by the oil company, villager Roman Yushkov can be seen trying to clean the murky waters with primitive sieves and filters.
    He said he has been watching his village die around him for nine years, while they fought with Lukoil to do something about the pollutants.
    "With their oil and their chemicals they've made our village a gas chamber, a chamber of death. Our children are ill, animals are dying, the environment is almost destroyed and the unique river, Turayevka, is being transformed into a sewer."
    Now Roman and other villagers say they are tired of fighting for their village to be cleaned up -- they just want to be moved somewhere with water they can drink, and where they don't have to worry about their children's' health.
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