The public prosecution authorities of Ural Federal District have assessed the results of environmental monitoring of the regional businesses. It appears that the environment of the Urals is still in very poor condition, which has been proved by over 6,500 instances of companies violating the environmental legislation in 2006 alone.

According to the spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor, the violations occur all over the region and involve misuse of forestry, water bodies, and other resources as well as their pollution; besides, companies ignore environmental norms when constructing and using buildings and facilities and in the course of production; they also destroy plants and forests without any permission.

The authorities have already initiated lawsuits against over 3,000 people; over 1,200 executives, monitoring bodies and administrative authorities have been given official warning about the unacceptability of violations.

The prosecutors appealed against 495 federal and local enactments that contradicted the federal legislation and reported 1,000 eliminations of violations revealed in the course of the investigations. Some 300 claims have been placed with the regional courts.

Some particularly serious environmental offenses resulted in 2,500 criminal suits, including those involving top management of local enterprises and administrative authorities. One such case concerns General Director of EtkulZoloto of Chelyabinsk Region, who is charged with capital environmental offenses leading to 100m RUR worth of damage.

Since the conservation issues are so acute in the region, all the public prosecutors of Ural Federal District have been ordered to take steps to restore order and prevent environmental crimes.