Protest in defence of Akhshtyr Quarry of Sochi held in Moscow

Activists of the movement "Law and Order" and members of the "Yabloko" Party have held a series of solo pickets at the walls of the "White House" in Moscow in defence of the monuments of nature of Sochi. They protested against disposing the Olympic construction wastes in the Akhshtyr Quarry. Vladimir Kimaev, the leader of the local "Yabloko" branch, has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that Sochi is transformed from the resort city into a quarry city, which is facing an ecological disaster. The situation, in particular, making the quarry a burial place of Olympic construction wastes, was promoted, in his opinion, by some high-ranking government officials.

According to the organizers of the protest, the decision to use the Akhshtyr Quarry for disposal of Olympic construction wastes was made on July 12 at a sitting with the Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Kozak.

"We received the minutes of that sitting from the 'Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus' – they managed to obtain the document. The MzymtaRiver runs near the quarry – the main source of drinking water for the city. There is a substantial risk that the river will grow either shallow or unfit for drinking because of the leaks from the quarry," Sophia Rusova, an adviser to the chairman of the "Yabloko" Party, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.