Izvestiia, July 27, 2000
Environmentalists Want a Referendum Agency What The Papers Say
The Moscow election commission has registered an initiative group which advocates a nationwide referendum on ecological issues, according to Chairman of the Central Election Commission Alexander Veshnyakov.
Veshnyakov says that the group plans to offer three questions: "Do you object to importing radioactive materials from abroad for storage, processing, and burial on the territory of the Russian Federation?" "Do you support the idea of a federal government agency for environmental protection in Russia, independent of the existing structures, for the use and management of natural resources?" and "Do you support the idea of a legally independent forestry service in Russia?"
Veshnyakov says that numerous attempts to organize nationwide referendums in Russia have failed because their organizers never managed to collect the necessary number of signatures on petitions, or the signatures already collected were suspect and therefore invalidated.
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