Small Homeland: Ecology and Local Protest
When the government decides for people what to do with their land, forests, and water, local conflicts arise in the regions: over landfills, construction, development, and emissions. This collection of materials from "NotMoscow Speaking" explores how residents defend their villages and towns, the consequences, and why a small town can become a symbol of protest.
2024
"The forest is the Vepsians, and the Vepsians are the forest."
About a Vepsian village in Karelia and a pine forest near Lake Onega, which local residents consider their own.
2024
Protest in Bashkortostan: How the small town of Baymak became famous worldwide
A NeMoskva correspondent attended the largest Russian protest of early 2024 in Baimak.
2024
Metamorphoses of ecologist Radiy Khabirov
Biography of Bashkortostan's head, Radiy Khabirov: how an ecologist became the region's leader.
2025
Concrete coating
The history of Vologda's urban conservation renaissance, which ended with a change of governor.
2024
Chronicle of events in Baimak
Judge Elina Tagirova sentenced Bashkir environmental activist Fail Alsynov to four years in a general regime penal colony.
2024
Do desert dwellers dream of wild Yakut horses?
How residents of the northern village of Kuzomen are fighting the encroachment of sand dunes, feral horses, and "wild" tourists.
2024
"People don't want to be part of the landscape."
About the residents of Iskitim, which is among the dirtiest cities in Russia and from which people are actively leaving.
2024
"We are being sold like serfs"
How and why Krasnoyarsk's "royal district" is rebelling against the integrated territorial development program (ITD).
2024
"We welcome spiritual search and enlightenment, but we must not destroy nature."
Residents of the Altai villages of Charyshskoye and Krasny Partizan have been resisting the construction for several months.
2024
Residents of Podolsk in Bashkortostan are fighting eviction from their hometown.
Residents of the village of Podolsk in the Khaibullinsky District of Bashkortostan are fighting eviction from their hometown.
2025
Before Chernobyl and Fukushima
The Kyshtym accident of 1957: the story of a secret disaster at the Mayak plant, the consequences of which were hushed up.
2023
For children, deer, and squirrels! How "village fools" took their small homeland seriously and became a danger to the authorities.
About Lipetsk activists who, since 2021, have been trying to convey their objections to the authorities against the "regional dump."