Federal nature sanctuary to be created on Solovetsky Islands
© RIA Novosti. Vladimir Trefilov

Federal nature sanctuary to be created on Solovetsky Islands

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoi has submitted the draft resolution "On Establishing a Solovetsky Archipelago Federal Nature Sanctuary" in the Arkhangelsk Region, the website of the Ministry reads.

"The establishment of a federal nature sanctuary will not prevent the implementation of religious activities, which is evident from the draft resolution, carefully designed by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment together with the legal service of the Moscow Patriarchy, but will also help to conserve the authenticity and spiritual atmosphere of the monastery," Donskoi's letter reads.

According to the Minister, the nature sanctuary will allow the use of the state authority to prevent crimes in the environmental sector in order to preserve the unique island nature together with the monks.

"In recent years, the decline in the nature complexes on Solovetsky Islands reached a dangerous level. The unregulated recreation pressure on the landscapes and the careless natural resource management have led to the reduction in the number of local birds as well as marine mammals, the dropout of several species of the archipelago and other bad consequences of human intervention," the Ministry's website reads.

The nature sanctuary will be established to implement the instruction of the Russian Government as part of the measure complex designed to conserve spiritual, cultural and nature inheritance of Solovetsky Islands in the Arkhangelsk Region and the corresponding order of the Russian President.

Material concerning the complex environmental examination of the territory, which provide for  the basis for giving this place the status of a federal protected area called Solovetsky Archipelago Nature Sanctuary, have passed through a public hearing and the state environmental expertise established by an executive order issued by the Federal Service for Natural Resources.