Rock star Yury Shevchuk has cut a disc in a bid to stop workmen cutting down trees in Khimki forest.
His recorded message of support for activists trying to stop the construction of a Moscow-Petersburg toll road through the woodland to the north of the capital was released at the same time as construction bosses rapped out a stark demand for protestors to beat it.
And in a third development it emerged that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) may no longer be singing from the same hymn sheet either as eco-concerns have prompted the bank to reconsider its 400 million euro support.
Pricking consciences
On Sunday the activists met with the head of “Teplotekhnik” – the company that is cutting the forest down – Alexander Semchenko. But far from finding a common path, the businessman – and bishop of the Evangelical Church – promised to sue the campaigners and make trouble for them.
The meeting, next to a Baptist church, was intended to prick the churchman’s conscience, Kommersant reported.
“We really wanted to show a religious man what his actions lead to,” Yevgenia Chirikova, leader of the movement told the daily. “We showed him the pictures of the attack on the camp, the photos of the mobsters in masks. But the bishop announced that he has nothing to do with it, and accused us of hiring them to attract more attention.
“We wanted to show him our suggestions on alternative routes of the road building. We reminded him that victims of repressions were buried in the forest and that the equipment will move over their bones”.
The activist claim that Teplotekhnik’s representative Alexei Provotvorov told the police on Friday that the men in masks were their employees.
The Moscow News
