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According to activists, the lands of the Khmelita Nature Reserve have been effectively taken over by a hunting farm..

The scandal surrounding the Khmelita Nature Reserve and Museum continues to mount in the Smolensk region. Logging continues, and local residents recently discovered a wild bear cub in a cage. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case. Following this, one of the officials responsible for stripping the reserve of its protected status has been dismissed. But the future of Khmelita remains uncertain.

Local residents are seriously concerned about losing the unique A.S. Griboyedov Khmelita Nature Museum-Reserve. At the very least, a significant portion of it. In early June of this year, the Smolensk Regional Court ordered the Smolensk Regional Administration to approve the regulations for the specially protected natural area of ​​the Khmelita Nature Museum-Reserve and its boundaries, the lack of which had put the area at risk of losing its protected status in recent years. However, despite the court's decision, what can only be described as a violent land grab has begun.

"Timber is being cut down on an industrial scale right on the reserve's territory. Near the village of Vsevolodkino, access to water is now prohibited. A fence has been erected, blocking residents' access to a pond in the Kishkino tract. A small bear cub was also found in an enclosure there. It was whining, as if begging for help! It's not a sight for the faint of heart. The mother bear may have been killed, and the cub was taken for their own amusement," local residents told NeMoskva.

Activists began knocking on the doors of all the regulatory agencies, and in mid-July of this year, they secured a prosecutor's inspection. By this time, the bear cub was no longer there, and the enclosure itself had been dismantled.

"There were representatives from Rosprirodnadzor, Rosreestr, Rosselkhoznadzor, the Forestry Department, and the Vyazemsky District Administration—a total of about 15 people," said activist Pavel Kostylev, describing the inspection. "We walked along the road to the gate blocking access to the Kuryanovka River. There, we met a man who introduced himself as a gamekeeper for the 'Hunting Traditions' hunting ground. He openly stated that the Kishkino tract was the hunting ground's base, and that it was, in fact, their private property. At the time, there was a lot of equipment, tractors, and ATVs there. The Kuryanovka River, however, was blocked with logs to allow access for this very equipment. No one even considered that this was disrupting the reserve's ecosystem!"

Upon learning of the hunting grounds, residents consulted the documents. It turned out that in October 2011, the "Okhotnichye Traditsii" hunting grounds had indeed received land in the Smolensk region—but not on the Khmelita property. The Vyazemsky District Administration issued two orders against the hunting grounds, requiring them to open access to a body of water and unblock a public road.

But the "Hunting Traditions" organization ignored the order. Meanwhile, activists "unearthed" another curious document. It turned out that the hunting grounds on the Khmelita property were being established... to preserve the protected area.

"An expert commission was created. It recommended repealing the Smolensk Region administration's decree, which "unreasonably and without regard for environmental legislation" designated the Khmelita area as a specially protected natural area, and instead establishing a hunting farm there "for monitoring and protecting hunting resources, conducting biotechnical and other hunting management measures," supposedly to preserve natural complexes and their inhabitants," the activists explained.

Activists soon discovered that a vast area around Vyazma, more than 9000 hectares, was actually transferred to Okhotnichye Traditsii LLC in May 2021.

"It was done secretly; we heard nothing about any auction. There was no information on the Forestry Department's website either. This suggests some kind of personal agenda," suggested another activist, Nikolai Markin.

The fact that the expert commission, the very one that recommended creating a hunting ground instead of a nature reserve, was headed by Mikhail Gildenkov, also suggests personal interests. According to official documents, Gildenkov was also a member of the Public Council for the Development of Hunting and the Conservation of Biodiversity in the Smolensk Region. This council also included Yuri Sharin, head of the Forestry Department, and, attention (!), Vladimir Kirillov, former director of Okhotnichy Traditsii LLC. Kirillov held this position until March 24, 2023, when Alexander Ilyin became director of Okhotnichy Traditsii LLC.

Elena Zimina, however, remained one of the founders of Okhotnichy Traditsii LLC throughout this time. Local activists speculate that Elena Zimina is the wife of Boris Zimin, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Crimean government and former head of Chernomorskneftegaz.

NeMoskva was unable to find confirmation of this version. However, it must be said that numerous people with the same last name as Zimina apparently have close business ties.

For example, according to publicly available data, the founder of Okhotnichy Traditsii LLC, in addition to Elena Vyacheslavovna Zimina, is also a legal entity, Express LLC. Tamara Alekseevna Zimina is listed as a founder of Express LLC. She, in turn, is listed as a founder in several other organizations, including KLP Plus LLC. It is located at the following address: Moscow, Donskoy Municipal District, Ordzhonikidze Street, Building 11, Building 1A. A certain BVS-Group LLC is also located at the same address: Moscow, Donskoy Municipal District, Ordzhonikidze Street, Building 11, Building 10, Floor 4, Building IX. Boris Alekseevich Zimin is listed as one of the founders of this company.

Local activists believe Boris Alekseevich Zimin is the ultimate beneficiary of this entire affair. Incidentally, according to his 2016 income declaration, Zimin owned 122 plots of land across Russia.

Boris Zimin's name is also linked to the scandal surrounding the bankrupt producer of Vorontsovskie croutons, RusCo LLC. According to Kommersant, in August 2022, Moscow-based Trading House LLC agreed to purchase several of RusCo's facilities, including the crouton production lines. Trading House's address is the same as that of CargoLinePro LLC (KLP), which, according to Kommersant, has inherited RusCo's debt. KLP is owned by BVS Group, where Zimin is listed as one of the founders.

"We managed to get to the root of the matter and discover that in 2015, a plot of land was created on public land, including a stream and a pond. Residents were not informed of this at all. In 2016, this plot was leased to the Moskovsky Family Leisure Center LLC, whose general director was listed as Vladimir Kirillov. He was also the general director of Okhotnichy Traditsii LLC. Subsequently, a land lease agreement was signed between the Family Leisure Center and Okhotnichy Traditsii LLC. It was signed by Kirillov on one side, and by… also by Kirillov on the other! And now Okhotnichy Traditsii considers this land their own!" explained Nikolai Markin.

"Because the Kuryanovka dam, which feeds the Vyazma River, was built, residents of Vyazma itself were deprived of water. People planted so many things in their fields. Vegetables have been grown here since 1991. And now we're left without zucchini, pumpkins, squash, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, broad beans, garlic, and onions. In other words, without all our crops! Without irrigation, everything perished. The worst thing is that the gladioli collection, which had been collected since 1988, was stolen. Part of the collection included varieties by the world-renowned breeder A.F. Evdokimov. Anyone involved in breeding understands what they're talking about," local residents complained.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has finally heeded the complaints of Smolensk residents. On July 10, the Investigative Committee's official account announced that Alexander Bastrykin had ordered a criminal investigation into the violation of the Khmelity specially protected natural area.

"The natural landscape of the Khmelita State Museum-Reserve in the Smolensk Region has been reportedly being destroyed, which is inconsistent with its status as a specially protected natural area. A hunting ground will be established on the site of the museum, which was created to preserve the historical and cultural heritage associated with A.S. Griboyedov and the heroism of Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War. It has also been noted that a unique collection of gladioli, as well as trees, rare varieties of hazel, and other plants, are being destroyed in this area," the Russian Investigative Committee reported.

Following this, on July 28, Oksana Lavrikova, Director of the Smolensk Region Department of Natural Resources and Ecology, was dismissed. She was one of the initiators of stripping Khmelita of its protected area status. The corresponding order was signed by Acting Smolensk Governor Vasily Anokhin, who replaced Alexey Ostrovsky as the region's previous governor. As a reminder, Ostrovsky had ordered the liquidation of the Khmelita protected area, but rescinded it a few days later. However, he soon lost his position as governor.

Activists have repeatedly appealed to Vasily Anokhin with requests to conduct an investigation into the improper use of the Okhotnichye Traditsyami land plot, and to generally review the legality of this land plot's formation within Khmelita. However, the current acting governor has chosen not to interfere in the reserve's affairs. Activists believe that his actions (or rather, inactions) should also be assessed by the Investigative Committee.

It's worth noting that Khmelita's problems essentially began a quarter of a century ago. In 1998, a decree from the Smolensk Region administration designated the reserve's lands as specially protected natural areas. It seemed that Khmelita's safety was being taken care of at the time. However, in 2021, it was discovered that throughout the reserve's existence, the boundaries and area of ​​the protected area had never been officially established or registered in the cadastral register. This omission led to significant problems and, in fact, became the source of disputes over the protected lands.

The Khmelita Nature Reserve encompasses over 24,000 hectares of fields, forests, and rivers. It also houses the Khmelita Museum-Reserve, a federal cultural institution. This is where the Dnieper River originates, the source of the famous Vazuza River—a tributary of the Volga and Dnieper—and where centuries-old trees, many of which are 180-200 years old, and endangered species grow. Khmelita is also unique in that it is associated with cultural and historical events. Burial mounds and burial grounds associated with various periods of Russian history are located here, preserving the memory of Russian writers Alexander Griboyedov and Mikhail Bulgakov, and the Russian naval commander Admiral Pavel Nakhimov. Historically, this area is also known as the "Vyazemsky Cauldron," where thousands of Soviet soldiers perished, and whose remains may still be found in these lands.

Photo: VKontakte group "Save Khmelita"