"The small tribes of Siberia are living on thin ice: E.ON is partly to blame”

With burning oil drums in front of the headquarters of E.ON in Düsseldorf the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) drew attention today with a human rights campaign to the threat from oil and gas mining in Siberia, where large tracts of nature have been destroyed by decades of the extraction of minerals. The E.ON is partly to blame for this, because the company has a 15 percent share in the Yuzhno-Russkoye gas-field on the Yamal peninsula and together with Wintershall (Kassel) is a partner of the Gasprom company in the projected construction of the Baltic pipeline. "On the peninsula, where 61 percent of the Russian gas and 15 percent of the oil reserves lie, about 4,700 Nenets live as nomads and reindeer-breeders”, said Sarah Reinke, GfbV correspondent for the Russian Federation, during the demonstration. "Their way of life is acutely endangered by the mega project, which with up to eight pipelines will cut right through their land and the reindeer pastures.”

The ice, on which the small tribes of Siberia live, is getting steadily thinner. For this reason more than 2,000 people all over Germany have with their signatures called upon the E.ON to take up its responsibility for the native inhabitants in the Russian gas mining areas, to involve them in the decision-making processes, to abide by environmental standards and to call upon the Russian gas monopolist Gasprom, which is a close partner of the E.ON, to do likewise. In the course of the demonstration these signatures were given to a representative of the energy giant.

"The gas-field has the function of providing security of energy for Germany. But for the Nenets the mining activities mean the loss of their habitat”, said Reinke. "They suffer from extreme pollution of the environment and from the consequences of the climate change, which they experience up to three times more forcefully than we do here in Germany. E.ON must negotiate with representatives of the indigenous groups and take on responsibility for their survival in Siberia”, demanded Reinke. "The close contact with the Russian gas monopolist Gasprom must also be used in the interests of the Russian native inhabitants and not just in economic terms”, continued Reinke.