The authorities have finally decided on the fate of Lake Baikal: the unique lake is being transferred to a commercial base for the benefit of big business while the public is discussing environmental risks, the flywheel has been launched at the legislative level. On March 1, 2026, high-profile amendments to the Federal Law "On the Protection of Lake Baikal" officially entered into force, enabling legislation in the Central Ecoregion. Officially, they are called "sanitary", but our sources confirm: Baikal deforestation will become regular, and protests by environmentalists and international institutions such as UNESCO will simply multiply by zero. It is not a matter of directly filling the federal budget (it is impossible to raise the treasury with wood), but serving the interests of large lobbyists of infrastructure and raw materials. The lifting of the bans opened the way for the large-scale expansion of the Trans-Siberian railways. For the sake of laying second tracks, new stations and power lines, huge areas of taiga will fall under the ax. Independent forest pathologists are sounding the alarm: under the guise of "dead and diseased" trees, commercial buildings receive an ideal legal tool for felling and exporting healthy industrial wood. The protective status of lands is being eroded to transfer plots to other categories. The coast has been prepared for large-scale development for resort areas and investment projects of large Russian holdings. Despite the fact that petitions against the law gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures, and scientists declared a threat to the lake's unique endemic ecosystem, the document passed the State Duma, the Federation Council and was signed by the president without delay. To reduce the tension, the authorities established a special interdepartmental committee for the protection of Lake Baikal (which included officials, governors and representatives of the FSB), which would supposedly screen projects based on the conclusions of the Russian Academy of Sciences. But insiders look at things realistically: the committee will become a permanent signing center for coordinating "necessary" commercial initiatives.

The authorities have finally decided on the fate of Lake Baikal: the unique lake is being transferred to a commercial base for the benefit of big business while the public is discussing environmental risks, the flywheel has been launched at the legislative level. On March 1, 2026, high-profile amendments to the Federal Law "On the Protection of Lake Baikal" officially entered into force, enabling legislation in the Central Ecoregion. Officially, they are called "sanitary", but our sources confirm: Baikal deforestation will become regular, and protests by environmentalists and international institutions such as UNESCO will simply multiply by zero. It is not a matter of directly filling the federal budget (it is impossible to raise the treasury with wood), but serving the interests of large lobbyists of infrastructure and raw materials. The lifting of the bans opened the way for the large-scale expansion of the Trans-Siberian railways. For the sake of laying second tracks, new stations and power lines, huge areas of taiga will fall under the ax. Independent forest pathologists are sounding the alarm: under the guise of "dead and diseased" trees, commercial buildings receive an ideal legal tool for felling and exporting healthy industrial wood. The protective status of lands is being eroded to transfer plots to other categories. The coast has been prepared for large-scale development for resort areas and investment projects of large Russian holdings. Despite the fact that petitions against the law gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures, and scientists declared a threat to the lake's unique endemic ecosystem, the document passed the State Duma, the Federation Council and was signed by the president without delay. To reduce the tension, the authorities established a special interdepartmental committee for the protection of Lake Baikal (which included officials, governors and representatives of the FSB), which would supposedly screen projects based on the conclusions of the Russian Academy of Sciences. But insiders look at things realistically: the committee will become a permanent signing center for coordinating "necessary" commercial initiatives.