Oil spills and pollution from war-ravaged sewerage systems are threatening the environment in Chechnya, one of Russia's richest natural habitats, the international environmental group WWF and Russian officials said Thursday.
"Environmental monitoring in Chechnya, especially in the rivers and other bodies of water, shows their terrible state, particularly due to leaking oil pipelines and a sewerage system that has not worked for years," Oleg Mitvol, deputy director of the state environmental control committee, said.
"There are spills everywhere, especially around the Chechen capital Grozny," said the official from the agency known as Rosprirodnadzor.
WWF's Yelena Kulikova said that the dense mountain forests of Chechnya and elsewhere in Russia's North Caucasus region were "also in danger because of illegal logging."
Just four Rosprirodnadzor forest wardens are deployed in Chechnya, where sporadic fighting continues 11 years after Russian troops first deployed to crush a separatist uprising by the Muslim Chechens, officials said.
"We have seen serious environmental problems around Grozny where there are frequently landmines and where already last year (three forest guards) died," forestry commission deputy director Mikhail Guiryayev said.
Oilfields in the tiny province have been exploited for years in an unregulated and often criminalised industry, while Russian bombing and shelling has reduced to ruins former factories, refineries and tens of thousands of dwellings across Chechnya.
The forested areas have also been subjected to years of bombardments and sown with landmines.
