Russia plans to use prisoners for Arctic cleanup

(FILE PHOTO) A dead fish is seen on the shore of the Ambarnaya River outside Norilsk on June 10, 2020. – Russian investigators on June 10, 2020, detained three staff at a power plant where thousands of tons of diesel leaked into the soil and waterways of the Arctic region. The spill of over 21,000 tons of fuel, which environmentalists say is the largest ever in the Arctic, took place after a fuel reservoir collapsed at a power plant operated by a subsidiary of metals giant Norilsk Nickel in the city of Norilsk beyond the Arctic Circle. (Photo by IRINA Yarinskaya / AFP)

MOSCOW — Russia said Friday it was considering sending prisoners to help clean up the Arctic after a massive diesel spill hit a remote Siberian territory last year.

The head of Russia’s Federal Prison Service (FSIN), Alexander Kalashnikov, said that an agreement to that effect had been reached with the administration of the Arctic city of Norilsk.

“Russia’s FSIN is looking into the possibility of getting convicts involved in the cleanup of the Arctic zone,” Kalashnikov said at a meeting in comments confirmed by the prison service.

He asked prison management officials, who are in charge of penal colonies in the Arctic, to “continue” working on the issue.

Located above the Arctic Circle, Norilsk is one of the world’s most polluted cities.

Last year, a fuel reservoir collapsed at a power plant operated by a subsidiary of metals giant Norilsk Nickel outside the northern city, with more than 20,000 tonnes of diesel polluting the local ecosystem.

Environmentalists said the spill was the worst such accident ever in the Arctic region and it could take years to clean up.

In December, Russia’s prison officials publicly discussed using convicts in the efforts at a forum in Saint Petersburg.

FSIN official Elena Korobkova said at the time that Norilsk authorities had already made available premises to house a “correctional centre” for up to 56 people.

Convicts could also be used to clean up illegal waste dumps in the northern Arkhangelsk region, authorities have said.

Officials made no mention of possible incentives for prisoners such as reduced sentences or higher wages.

Russia has a long history of using forced labor for massive construction projects in the Arctic, including the White Sea-Baltic Canal built by gulag inmates in the early 1930s.