Despite being suppressed by the authorities, the ecological disaster in the Siberian town of Sibay, Bashkortostan, has become a topic of discussion in unofficial media and social networks. Well-known Moscow blogger and urbanist Ilya Varlamov wrote an article about it with the unequivocal title «People are being poisoned.
In mid-November, residents noticed that something was wrong with the city’s air. The smell of hydrogen sulfide was in the air, and smog covered everything. It seemed like a small thing — something happened, harmful substances were released, and then it settled down. But the smog in Sibay lingers to this day.
According to the official version, the smell and smoke come from an abandoned quarry where ore was being oxidized. The unofficial version suggests that the local reagent production plant is the source of the emissions. Currently, rescuers are working in the quarry, pouring a mixture over the ore, and the court has suspended the plant’s operations. As a result, the smog remains in the city.
While the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported acceptable levels of hydrogen sulfide in the air in December, a criminal case was recently opened over air pollution, and residents were given medical masks and activated carbon. At the same time, walks in kindergartens and outdoor physical education classes in schools in Sibay have been restricted, and Crimean authorities have offered to house several hundred children from Sibay in republican sanatoriums. According to the acting head of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, it will take another two weeks to clean the air.
Despite their lack of trust in the authorities, residents are organizing on social networks, posting photos of the smog and discussing how to protect themselves from the approaching smoke. Some children are getting sick, others are feeling unwell, and some fear that sulfur causes cancer. But these are just words. Words about a city covered in smoke. They do not reflect the condition of the people who constantly smell an unpleasant odor, worry about the negative effects of sulfur on their bodies, and cannot see neighboring houses because they are enveloped in smog. The condition of the city, which no one can do anything about, cannot be conveyed. Well, except to eliminate the source of pollution and evacuate the children from the affected area. But not all of them. And only after two months,» Varlamov writes.
It should be noted that the fears of residents are not unfounded. According to local doctors, sulfur dioxide reacts with moisture to form sulfurous acid, which becomes toxic when inhaled into the lungs. Colleagues in Moscow agree. For example, pulmonologist Alexander Karabinenko assesses the situation as follows: «Sulfur dioxide is quite a toxic compound, and it is not good to breathe it for a long time. There will definitely be chronic bronchitis, tumors can be initiated. It affects the respiratory system, the nervous system, the kidneys, and the liver. All the organs suffer». He is echoed by Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Alexander Portnov, who believes that it is already necessary to evacuate all residents of Sibay.
However, according to the Emergency Situations Commission, there is no reason to panic, and the «unfavorable situation» does not pose a threat to people’s lives. It should be remembered that Bashkortostan and the Urals as a whole, which are polluted by similar harmful enterprises, have long been considered an oncological disaster zone that does not discriminate between people on the basis of nationality or religion.
In this case, the cause of the smog is the oxidation of ore at the Sibay branch of the Uchaly Mining and Processing Plant, which belongs to the private corporation «Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company». The main owner of the company is unofficially believed to be Iskander Mahmudov, a Bukharian Jew who represents the interests of the global Jewish business establishment favored by the current regime in Russia.
It should be noted that the colonial policy of this regime, not only towards the Bashkir people, but also towards all the indigenous peoples of Russia, has long been based on the principle of «privatization of profits and nationalization of losses». In this case, the profits go to the offshore accounts of transnational capital, while the losses in the form of environmental genocide remain with the local population.
This situation seems to suit Radia Khabirov, the pseudo-patriot and temporary acting head of Bashkortostan, who recently called for «making Bashkortostan great again» after his inaction.