Support The Moscow Times!

Black Smog Raises Siberian City’s Alarms

Krasnoyarsk, a city 4,100 kilometers east of Moscow, regularly appears near the top of Russia’s annual air pollution rankings. Marco Fieber / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Smog-plagued Krasnoyarsk declared its second weather emergency in two months Friday as the Siberian city continues to reel from air pollution.

Some 4,100 kilometers east of Moscow, Krasnoyarsk regularly appears near the top of Russia’s annual air pollution rankings. The city’s authorities have regularly declared smog emergencies — measures that include advising residents to leave — in the past decade, with states of emergency sometimes in place for up to two months in a given year.

Smog hangs over low-lying Krasnoyarsk because there’s no wind to blow away smog particles from the local coal-fired plant and other pollutants, Russia’s Hydrometeorology Center says.

On Monday, it was reported that Krasnoyarsk briefly topped the independent air quality monitor AirVisual’s list of the world’s most polluted cities.

Environmental activists have announced a citywide rally against industrial pollution to take place on March 29. 

Popular blogger Alexander Gorbunov, whose frank and foul-mouthed posts have earned him millions of social media followers, wrote: “My DMs are full of photos and videos from Krasnoyarsk.”

“People are writing that they’re choking from chemical smog and no one cares,” Gorbunov, who goes by the pen name StalinGulag, wrote Thursday.

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more