Russia’s Foremost Environmental Activist, in Exile: ‘Oil Is At Fault For Everything.’

BY ILYA LOZOVSKY-APRIL 24, 2015

Earlier this week, Russia’s best-known environmental activist and notable opposition figure Yevgenia Chirikova left her home near Moscow with her two daughters to set up residence in Tallin, Estonia. Chirikova joins many other prominent opposition-minded Russians, including legislator Ilya Ponomarev and economist Sergei Guriev, who have had to leave their homeland for fear of repression. Chirikova has explained that her decision to leave was motivated primarily by fears that her children could — once again — become pawns in the Kremlin’s effort to pressure her. While in Tallinn, Chirikova plans to continue her latest project, a web portalthat allows Russians to crowdsource information about environmental problems.

Russia’s Foremost Environmental Activist, In Exile ‘Oil is at Fault for Everything.’ by Thavam Ratna