Russians more concerned about environment

The number of letters addressed to the Russian president's administration regarding ecology problems is significantly increasing. The president's press service told Rosbalt that they received 1780 letters relating to ecology problems in 2002, but in 2003 they have already received approximately 3300 such letters. The largest number of letters is related to pollution of the environment from oil and oil products.

Correspondents are proposing many different measures to solve the ecology problems. Activists, for example, are calling for ecological monitoring of oil-producing objects, refineries and oil transportation, storage and drilling sites. Moreover, correspondents believe the government should conduct inspections of the activities of oil companies and oil and gas projects, stiffen requirements for tankers transporting oil and create an independent state ecological inspectorate.