From nature protection to politics: the Russian environmental movement 1960-2010

The main stages of the USSR/Russian environmental movement's evolution, and the main forms of political activities under critical conditions such as the degradation of the Soviet system, its collapse and transition from a state socialism to a wild bureaucratic capitalism, are examined. The movement is reproduced in interactions with a rapidly changing and risk-laden context. The more turbulent and hostile the movement's context, the stronger was the movement's shift from producing collective actions towards reproducing its own organisations and networks for the defence of local populations and their basic human rights. Field research carried out during 1985-2010 informs the identification of five main stages in the history of the movement.