But as Russians contend with more urgent problems like fuel shortages<\/a> and rising grocery prices<\/a>, environmental concerns \u2014 and their impact on public health \u2014 have slipped down the list of priorities for some.<\/p>\n \u201cSurprisingly, the topic of air or water quality hasn’t come up in recent years, although we used to talk about it a lot back in the day,\u201d said one native of Chelyabinsk, a major industrial hub in the Ural Mountains notorious for its pollution.<\/p>\n Thousands of kilometers to the east in the Siberian highlands, people describe a similar outlook.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe air in winter is terrible here. Soot from the coal is everywhere,\u201d a man from the republic of Tyva said. \u201cA friend once came to visit me and was shocked when he blew black snot out of his nose, but we have gotten used to things like that. If our snot is that black, can you imagine the state of our lungs?\u201d<\/p>\n Rospotrebnadzor\u2019s data suggests that 83.6 million Russians were exposed to aggregate chemical pollution in water, air and soil in 2025, compared to 79.1 million in 2024 and 75.4 million in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n The increase reverses years of declining pollution exposure that followed the 2016 launch of Russia\u2019s flagship Clean Air Federal Project, which aimed to reduce emissions in dozens of industrial cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first six years of the program\u2019s existence, the number of people exposed to aggregate chemical pollution fell from 92.8 million in 2016 to 74.2 million in 2022 before beginning to steadily rise again.<\/p>\n This reversal, in turn, coincided with the government\u2019s 2023 decision<\/a> to cut funding for several flagship state environmental programs, with Clean Air\u2019s funding nearly halved for 2024, with cuts of 6 billion rubles ($62 million).<\/p>\n A Russian environmental analyst told The Moscow Times that Western sanctions, the reorientation of exports toward Asia and the economy\u2019s placement on a war footing since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine are the key factors behind the increasing environmental pollution.<\/p>\n \u201cThe country where authorities launched the Clean Air project in 2016 no longer exists. Up until 2021, it was one country. From 2022 onward, it is another,\u201d said the analyst, who spoke anonymously for safety reasons.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Uda River in Ulan-Ude. \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNorilsk Nickel Nadezhda Plant. The same goes for businesses and corporations, which before the war had sought to implement more environmentally sustainable business practices, following the lead of Western investors and markets that often demand sustainability compliance as a prerequisite for entry.\u00a0<\/p>\n The departure of many foreign investors and business partners after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022 quickly put an end to this trend, the expert said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “They are no longer oriented toward Western markets. They are oriented towards the Russian [military-industrial] complex,” they said. “No one asks Russian companies for their ESG ratings anymore, or whether they even have such reporting. Chinese companies or other new buyers don\u2019t care about that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Europe\u2019s embargo on Russian coal has also helped put the country\u2019s energy transition on ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n With exports falling sharply while production remains relatively high, the coal-reliant regions of Siberia and the Far East have become an increasingly important domestic market for Russia\u2019s collapsing<\/a> coal sector, an industry that feeds hundreds of thousands of people.\u00a0<\/p>\n This has prompted business owners and governors to team up in attempts to defend their regions against renewable energy sources, the environmental expert said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have open-pit coal mining here, so there is a lot of soot in the winter. That’s probably why so many people here have lung problems,\u201d said a person who lives in a coal-mining district in the Siberian republic of Khakassia.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur houses here often shake due to explosions at mining facilities. When you wash your car, a lot of black dust accumulates after about four hours, even if the car was parked the entire time \u2014\u00a0 it’s also from the coal,\u201d the resident added.<\/p>\n The real scale of Russia\u2019s pollution problem may be even greater than the Rospotrebnadzor data suggests.\u00a0<\/p>\n The environmental expert noted that many of Russia\u2019s most polluted cities, including Norilsk and Krasnoyarsk, still lack continuous air-quality monitoring systems capable of measuring highly hazardous PM2.5 and PM10 particulate matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEnterprises [in Russia] have been massively sabotaging the implementation of continuous monitoring systems,\u201d the analyst said. \u201cThis means that environmental agencies and bodies like Rospotrebnadzor can’t have clear and accurate data on the emissions and concentrations of harmful and hazardous substances.\u201d<\/p>\n The lack of comprehensive monitoring may help explain why Rospotrebnadzor identified contaminated drinking water as the country\u2019s leading environmental health risk in 2025, linking<\/a> 12,400 deaths to contaminated water compared with 6,100 linked to air pollution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This conclusion \u201ccompletely contradicts the results of studies conducted in the late 1990s and 2000s, when air pollution accounted for 50 to 80% of health risks,” the expert said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Yeltsovka river in the Big Nakhalovka, Novosibirsk. That is not to say that widespread environmental deregulation did not affect the quality of drinking water in Russian towns and cities, especially the country\u2019s industrial hubs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents of several towns and cities across Siberia and the Urals said they routinely boil tap water before using it for drinking or cooking, while others rely exclusively on bottled water after seeing discolored water flow from their taps.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Ulan-Ude, where entire neighborhoods illegally built by recent arrivals from the countryside sprang up on the outskirts of the city, \u201caccess to drinking water is still not regarded as a basic human right,\u201d according to the local resident who spoke with The Moscow Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n While residents of nakhalovki (\u201cbrazen housing,\u201d a term that refers to informal settlements built without proper authorization) live in houses without plumbing and pay for water delivered by truck or collect it from public water fountains, apartment dwellers in the city center prefer to filter their tap water before drinking it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut people here don\u2019t think about these problems,\u201d said the Ulan-Ude resident. \u201cPeople can start thinking about the environment when their basic needs are met, but for now, most people here don\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n A Message from The Moscow Times:<\/strong><\/p>\n Dear readers,<\/p>\n We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has designated The Moscow Times as an “undesirable” organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a “foreign agent.”<\/p>\n These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work “discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership.” We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.<\/p>\n We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help<\/a>.<\/p>\n Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It’s quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.<\/p>\n By supporting The Moscow Times, you’re defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tContinue\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Not ready to support today? \u00d7<\/p>\n \t\tRemind me next month<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\t\tThank you! Your reminder is set.\n\t\t<\/p>\n![\"
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