Kadyrov criticizes "Rosleskhoz" boss for assessing efficiency of Chechen forestry

The methodology according to which the "Rosleskhoz" (Russian Federal Forestry Agency) placed Chechnya among the regions with the least efficient forestry management, was compiled "incompetently," Ramzan Kadyrov has stated, suggesting that the head of the agency heads the Ministry of Natural Resources of Chechnya and improves the indicators.

The head of Chechnya has posted today his sharp criticism of Ivan Sovetnikov, the head of the "Rosleskhoz" on his Telegram channel. "Today, the 'Rosleskhoz' has quoted its boss, Ivan Sovetnikov, about the efficiency rating of forestry management, in which the Chechen Republic was in the top twenty of the worst regions. For the knowledge of the general public: the formula used by them for calculating the efficiency of forestry management was developed so carelessly and so recklessly that it is equally applied to both regions with large forested areas, and to small republics. And this is fundamentally wrong," Ramzan Kadyrov has stated.

He has suggested that "sitting in his office, Mr Sovetnikov doesn't even bother to visit the regions and see for himself the inefficiency of his own methodology." "I'm interested to know how is he going in the Chechen Republic, for example, to lease thousands of hectares of still un-demined lands of the forest fund? Will he find such landlords? Probably, Chechnya should start wholesale felling the reserves, which make up about a third of the entire region's forest fund in order to satisfy Sovetnikov's desire to 'improve the efficiency of forest management'," Mr Kadyrov has written.

One gets the feeling that the "Rosleskhoz" is "pushing regions not to preserve forests, but to cut away the forest fund in order to take the top lines in their rating," Kadyrov has emphasized. "I invite Ivan Sovetnikov to show us an example of his genius and bring the region to leading ranks. Get up from your familiar chair, leave your office and come to the Chechen Republic, where the post of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Protection will be waiting for you, and show us how to cut down absolutely all the trees in the republic with its 352,000 hectares and overtake some Siberian region with millions of forest hectares," the head of Chechnya has written.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 12, 2022 at 10:39 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.