4/04 GP Russia Gets Change in Pres.'l Decree

[the.greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org]

----------
Original-TO:      World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-Cc:      The Greenbase (Green2:Green2:Gnl:Main)
----------
                   ************************
                   GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
                   ************************
 
GREENPEACE GETS CHANGE IN ILLEGAL SECTIONS OF PRESIDENTIAL
DECREE
 
4 April 1996 -- Moscow -- Spokesmen for Greenpeace Russia say
the environmental organization has scored a major victory in
the High Court of the Russian Federation against President
Yeltsin. This is the first time the High Court has ruled
against a Presidential Decree.
 
After three days of court hearings, the High Court has decided

that parts of the Presidential Decree  72  "On State Support
of the Reconstruction and Conversion of Nuclear Energy in the
City of Zheleznogorsk" signed in January 1995 are illegal.  In
contradiction with Russian law, the parts of the Decree in
question would have allowed the Gorno-Khimichesky Combinat to
accept foreign spent nuclear fuel to enter the country for
storage. 
 
"The court has placed an enormous sign reading "RIP" on the
plans by the Ministry for Atomic Energy (Minatom) to start its
work on breaking the law," said Greenpeace Russia Campaign
Coordinator Ivan Blokov.
 
The decision makes importation of wastes that were not
produced by Russian-built nuclear power stations onto Russian
territory illegal.
 
Minatom Deputy Director Nikolai Egorov acted as defendant in
the court case in the name of the president. The defendant
admitted during the hearings that the construction of the RT-2
plant, whose cost is estimated at 4 billion dollars, would be
impossible without the import of foreign nuclear waste to
finance the
project.
 
However, the High Court made decisions on two parts of the
suit, and in the second refused to stop the financing of the
plant's construction on the grounds that it would be for
"temporary storage" of the spent nuclear fuel, which the
environmental group claimed was to be permanent. Greenpeace,
who had brought the suit, was not dismayed by this second
decision, as the project cannot be completed due to the
court's first decision.
 
For additional information, contact Ivan Blokov, Oleg
Kuznetsov or Yuri Komov at 251 9073 or 978 3950.
 
 
 
Greenpeace will hold a press briefing in its Moscow office on
5 April 1996 at 1:00 to discuss the outcome of the High
Court's action.
 
Journalists are asked to come to Ulista Dolgorukovskaya 21,

Metro Novoslobodskaya.
 
Notes:
 
In his decree, the president permitted the importation of
foreign spent nuclear fuel into Russia of foreign spent
nuclear fuel, built as a foreign project claiming that it
would be for
temporary storage. In fact it would mean importation for
storage of foreign radioactive waste which is illegal under
Section 3, Article 50 of the Russian Federation law "On the
Protection of the Environment".
 
The court action began in April of 1995, but was continuously
delayed due to misunderstandings of court jurisdiction. The
President, when he suddenly announced that his official
residence was the Kremlin, caused confusion for the courts,
because no court has jurisdiction there. In the meantime,
changes in the legal framework for the courts have brought the
suit to the High Court of the Russian Federation.
 
According to the High Court's decision, the only way to bring
foreign spent nuclear fuel into the country would be a special
international agreement. Russia already has agreements with
both Bulgaria and the Ukraine to take back spent nuclear fuel
from Russian-built nuclear reactors. 
 
 
ends.

----------