Russian environmentalists demand to recognize Greenpeace and WWF as foreign agents

According to REO, foreign NGOs "form a negative public opinion about the actions of the Russian government and companies in the field of nature conservation", Vedomosti reports.

The head of the REO, Rashid Ismailov, said that this is about the position of environmentalists in relation to large infrastructure projects - these organizations, Ismailov claims, believe that such projects threaten the population and biodiversity.

According to Sergey Tsyplenkov, executive director of Greenpeace in the Russian Federation, this initiative of Russian environmentalists is connected with the desire to “relieve the pressure of environmental NGOs”.

According to experts, only a Russian NPO can obtain the status of a foreign agent, and the Ministry of Justice has already refused to recognize Greenpeace as a foreign agent.