The Ministry of Natural Resources has restricted the military to using only a few designated areas within the "Wrangel Island" nature reserve for their needs. This decision comes after environmental activists, Greenpeace, and WWF requested that the Ministry of Defense be prohibited from constructing facilities or conducting exercises in Chukotka. The organization "The Earth Concerns Everyone" reported this on October 30.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has published an amended regulation for the "Wrangel Island" nature reserve, specifying that the military can only use designated areas on the island for their purposes. The demand for restrictions was filed by environmental activists, Greenpeace, and WWF in November 2022.
Activists believe that construction works, military exercises, and air and maritime traffic will have a detrimental impact on the habitats of polar bears and walruses, and breeding grounds for cetaceans.
The Chukotka authorities had stopped collaboration with WWF after their appeal to protect Wrangel Island. They cited a "threat to national security and infringement on the interests of Chukotka residents" as the reasons for doing so.
In 2023, Greenpeace and WWF were declared "undesirable organizations" in Russia.
