From Earth Action Newtwork

A Russian environmentalist faces imprisonment for warning the world of the potential nuclear disaster posed by Russia's aging and dangerous fleet of nuclear submarines. He has broken no law. Yet the Russian government is determined to silence him. They must not succeed.

In April 1997, former Russian naval Captain Alexandr Nikitin was awarded the prestigious Goldman Prize for Environmental Heroism for warning of the terrifying potential for nuclear disaster in Russia's polar seas. But Nikitin was not present at the prize giving ceremony in the USA. His government has forbidden him to leave Russia, and he is under criminal investigation. Yet according to the Russian constitution, Nikitin has broken no law, and committed no crime.

Nikitin's only offense was to cooperate with the Norwegian environmental group Bellona to produce an environmental report. This report details the potential for catastrophic contamination of the seas around Russia posed by leaking nuclear reactors in submarines. "Without international cooperation and financing", warns the report, "a grave situation could arise, which could be pictured as a Chernobyl in slow motion. If safety measures are not implemented, major accidents... will be unavoidable."

Post-Soviet Russia cannot afford to maintain its massive nuclear fleet, so scores of ancient vessels with their rusting reactors are disintegrating in Russia's polar seas. There are over 100 nuclear submarines in Russia, and the seas between Russia and Norway contain the highest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world. The potential for catastrophe grows greater by the day.

For helping to bring attention to this fact, Nikitin should have been thanked. Instead, he faces prosecution and additional time in jail, and his report has the dubious honour of being the first publication to be banned in Russia since the fall of Communism.

The Russian Federal Security Service seem prepared to use almost any means to ensure that Nikitin is silenced. They want him in prison, and they want the truth that he has exposed kept from the world. In 1995, when they heard about the report that Nikitin was preparing with Bellona, they raided Bellona's Russian offices and confiscated everything. Four months later, they paid a pre-dawn visit to Nikitin's home and arrested him. They refused to tell him what his crime was. Instead, they put him in jail. He remained there for ten months, without trial, before he was released.

Nikitin's future is uncertain. He has still not been told what he is accused of. Amnesty International investigated Ws case and concluded that he has committed no crime.

Alexandr Nikitin wants the opportunity to clear his name in court. But he is worried that he will not receive a fair trial. He is demanding to know what he is charged with, and he is asking that his case be transferred to the Russian high court where he has more chance of an impartial trial. You can help ensure that Nikitin receives justice.