https://sputniknews.in/20260709/clean-up-time-ruined-rivers-and-bays-as-treasures-11589693.html
Clean-Up Time: Ruined Rivers And Bays As Treasures
Clean-Up Time: Ruined Rivers And Bays As Treasures
Sputnik India
A small mechanical monster was cleaning up the apartment block’s courtyard next to mine, while a small crowd of important-looking people watched it... 09.07.2026, Sputnik India
2026-07-09T19:44+0530
2026-07-09T19:44+0530
2026-07-09T19:44+0530
world news
russia
moscow
vladimir putin
dmitry medvedev
emmanuel macron
saudi arabia
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Being something between a tiny tank and a household floor-cleaning robot, that buzzing machine was attacking the eternal problem of Moscow cityscape – the fallen leaves in autumn season.As of today, every courtyard needs a small crowd of janitors to remove these sodden heaps by hand, cleaning up vast surfaces where we are treading daily. Now, we have a Russian-made helper for that, and you may see its photo on a Russian magazine’s website.That machine is a part of a powerful national effort of cleaning Russia from things that previously were impossible to remove. The effort has a name “Ecological Wellbeing”, with a status of a National Project, and it’s mostly about garbage dumps, rivers, lakes and sea bays, that used to accumulate all kind of waste. What was not quite expected, the first years of work show us that the clean-up produces almost immediate profit.The most well-known case of success here is, probably, Svetogorsk (“City Of Light) near St. Petersburg. A huge dump near it has, in the course of 70 years, accumulated hundreds of thousand cubic meters of all kind of waste, poisonous to put it mildly. Now the inhabitants have got themselves about 3.5 hectares of green forests and fields. More, the rivers nearby are now good for swimming and fishing. So the only question is, will the people decide to leave that land as it is, for recreation, or will somebody build a hi-class cottage village there, or do something else. In all cases, yet another sore spot on the face of the Earth is ready to produce material or immaterial benefits.There are also rivers, with their banks swampy, old submerged tree trunks and branches clogging the waterways and turning such areas sickly green. Dredging job has started now in many such places, with a view to healthy forests around the water and fishing areas in it to recreate themselves in several years.The count, so far, is 600 kilometers of rivers and 28 thousands of hectares of space around them. That means more new territories for all kind of commercial or recreational use.Finally, there are several Russian seas, in the Arctic and in the Far East, where dozens of rusty hulks are still lurking in shallow waters. We are talking about areas, where only recently there was just no way to utilize an old fishing trawler or a barge, save for drowning them where they stood.But a drowned ship is a danger. It always contains some oil, petrol and, of course, rust. Bays and beaches are becoming contaminated with anything you can imagine. So now the target for the year of 2026 is 17 such vessels, including a huge one, The Oceanographer, near the northern port of Tiksi. It’s a relatively new kind of enterprise, only recently you could not do much to really big ships sunk in shallow or deep waters. Now, the nation is about to get itself several new bays suitable for good use.Two big things are behind the Ecological Wellbeing project. One is a story of Vladimir Putin’s best friend who chose himself the job of Russia’s top cleaner, although bigger things could have been in store for him. Sergei Ivanov, who died several days ago, was a general of Soviet and Russian intelligence services. He also was a Minister of Defense, a deputy Prime Minister and chief of presidential office. And, very probably, he was the closest person to Putin for decades. In December of 2007, when Putin’s presidential term was getting to a close, Moscow was filled with rumors about Sergei Ivanov becoming the leading candidate for top position. Dmitry Medvedev was chosen, instead, and Ivanov went on holding several key positions in the Russian Government.And then, in 2016, he became the President’s Special Representative for nature and ecology, stepping down from several other posts. That was his last position to hold, when Mr. Ivanov health went down. We thought it was simply a kind of retirement. Few of us could even imagine the scope of his duties. As it always was with that man, he was quietly building up a huge foundation for something really big, that’s Russia’s clean-up.But even Sergei Ivanov, with his famous ability to construct, year after year, efficient systems to do things, even him would be unable to do much, if not for another thing that contributes now to the national eco-project. That thing is a technological revolution, bringing up all kind of drones and robots in every thinkable sphere.Let us get back to the courtyard robot, cleaning leaves and the rest of rubbish. It’s a twin brother of another robot, finding and disabling Ukrainian mines, left by that nation’s retreating troupes everywhere, with a special liking for kindergartens, and schools, and other civilian objects. The courtyard crawler’s military brothers are very good at finding and disabling these mines. But then, only yesterday the French President Emmanuel Macron said something about battle robots to replace the infantry very soon. These, too, belong to the same family and look almost the same.One of the reasons why dumps were so unyielding, and waterways so clogged by everything, was that it used to take a lot of dangerous human effort to tackle them. Now robots, including very powerful ones, are taking over, and cleaning up Russia is becoming a realistic task.To see that, you may walk right now into the lofty halls of INNOPROM 2026 , which is the main international annual industrial exhibition in Russia. It takes place at the city of Yekaterinburg’s EXPO - International Exhibition Center in the industrial heart of the Urals mountains. The exposition covers, among other things, mechanical engineering and industrial components, industrial automation, digital technologies, technologies for cities and the rest. Production digitalization, process automation and the implementation of innovative technologies are the keywords for most things on display.That, by far, is not a domestic Russian event. 52 countries have sent people to look-see (and buy-sell). Last year it were the Saudis that were an official partner of INNOPROM, with a stunning number of firm contracts signed, especially after the exhibition has virtually moved to the kingdom’s own demonstration halls – that’s what official partners are supposed to do.And then more contracts followed, since Saudi Arabia has big plans and development projects for all of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Naturally, it is not only about cleaning the debris (of the recent war or any other kind), but about creating new areas of growth all around the region.This year, INNOPROM has another official partner, and that is Indonesia. The biggest industrial nation of South East Asia may try to do what the Saudis want to do with their region. Russian (and other) robots and drones are welcome.Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
https://sputniknews.in/20250212/story-of-survival-that-shattered-social-media-8765167.html
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russia, moscow, vladimir putin, dmitry medvedev, emmanuel macron, saudi arabia
russia, moscow, vladimir putin, dmitry medvedev, emmanuel macron, saudi arabia
Clean-Up Time: Ruined Rivers And Bays As Treasures
A small mechanical monster was cleaning up the apartment block’s courtyard next to mine, while a small crowd of important-looking people watched it skeptically: that was a test.
Being something between a tiny tank and a household floor-cleaning robot, that buzzing machine was attacking the eternal problem of Moscow cityscape – the fallen leaves in autumn season.
As of today, every courtyard needs a small crowd of janitors to remove these sodden heaps by hand, cleaning up vast surfaces where we are treading daily. Now, we have a Russian-made helper for that, and you may see
its photo on a Russian magazine’s website.
That machine is a part of a powerful national effort of cleaning Russia from things that previously were impossible to remove. The effort has a name “Ecological Wellbeing”, with a status of a National Project, and it’s mostly about garbage dumps, rivers, lakes and sea bays, that used to accumulate all kind of waste. What was not quite expected, the first years of work show us that the clean-up produces almost immediate profit.
The most well-known case of success here is, probably, Svetogorsk (“City Of Light) near St. Petersburg. A huge dump near it has, in the course of 70 years, accumulated hundreds of thousand cubic meters of all kind of waste, poisonous to put it mildly. Now the inhabitants have got themselves about 3.5 hectares of green forests and fields. More, the rivers nearby are now good for swimming and fishing.
So the only question is, will the people decide to leave that land as it is, for recreation, or will somebody build a hi-class cottage village there, or do something else. In all cases, yet another sore spot on the face of the Earth is ready to produce material or immaterial benefits.
There are also rivers, with their banks swampy, old submerged tree trunks and branches clogging the waterways and turning such areas sickly green. Dredging job has started now in many such places, with a view to healthy forests around the water and fishing areas in it to recreate themselves in several years.
The count, so far, is 600 kilometers of rivers and 28 thousands of hectares of space around them. That means more new territories for all kind of commercial or recreational use.
Finally, there are several Russian seas, in the Arctic and in the Far East, where dozens of rusty hulks are still lurking in shallow waters. We are talking about areas, where only recently there was just no way to utilize an old fishing trawler or a barge, save for drowning them where they stood.
But a drowned ship is a danger. It always contains some oil, petrol and, of course, rust. Bays and beaches are becoming contaminated with anything you can imagine. So now the target for the year of 2026 is 17 such vessels, including a huge one, The Oceanographer, near the northern port of Tiksi. It’s a relatively new kind of enterprise, only recently you could not do much to really big ships sunk in shallow or deep waters. Now, the nation is about to get itself several new bays suitable for good use.
Two big things are behind the Ecological Wellbeing project. One is a story of Vladimir Putin’s best friend who chose himself the job of Russia’s top cleaner, although bigger things could have been in store for him. Sergei Ivanov, who died several days ago, was a general of Soviet and Russian intelligence services. He also was a Minister of Defense, a deputy Prime Minister and chief of presidential office. And, very probably, he was the closest person to Putin for decades. In December of 2007, when Putin’s presidential term was getting to a close, Moscow was filled with rumors about Sergei Ivanov becoming the leading candidate for top position. Dmitry Medvedev was chosen, instead, and Ivanov went on holding several key positions in the Russian Government.
And then, in 2016, he became the President’s Special Representative for nature and ecology, stepping down from several other posts. That was his last position to hold, when Mr. Ivanov health went down. We thought it was simply a kind of retirement. Few of us could even imagine the scope of his duties. As it always was with that man, he was quietly building up a huge foundation for something really big, that’s Russia’s clean-up.
But even Sergei Ivanov, with his famous ability to construct, year after year, efficient systems to do things, even him would be unable to do much, if not for another thing that contributes now to the national eco-project. That thing is a technological revolution, bringing up all kind of drones and robots in every thinkable sphere.
Let us get back to the courtyard robot, cleaning leaves and the rest of rubbish. It’s a twin brother of another robot, finding and disabling Ukrainian mines, left by that nation’s retreating troupes everywhere, with a special liking for kindergartens, and schools, and other civilian objects. The courtyard crawler’s military brothers are very good at finding and disabling these mines. But then, only yesterday the French President Emmanuel Macron said something about battle robots to replace the infantry very soon. These, too, belong to the same family and look almost the same.
One of the reasons why dumps were so unyielding, and waterways so clogged by everything, was that it used to take a lot of dangerous human effort to tackle them. Now robots, including very powerful ones, are taking over, and cleaning up Russia is becoming a realistic task.
To see that, you may walk right now into the lofty halls of
INNOPROM 2026 , which is the main international annual industrial exhibition in Russia. It takes place at the city of Yekaterinburg’s EXPO - International Exhibition Center in the industrial heart of the Urals mountains. The exposition covers, among other things, mechanical engineering and industrial components, industrial automation, digital technologies, technologies for cities and the rest. Production digitalization, process automation and the implementation of innovative technologies are the keywords for most things on display.
That, by far, is not a domestic Russian event. 52 countries have sent people to look-see (and buy-sell). Last year it were the Saudis that were an official partner of INNOPROM, with a stunning number of firm contracts signed, especially after the exhibition has virtually moved to the kingdom’s own demonstration halls – that’s what official partners are supposed to do.
And then more contracts followed, since Saudi Arabia has big plans and development projects for all of the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. Naturally, it is not only about cleaning the debris (of the recent war or any other kind), but about creating new areas of growth all around the region.
This year, INNOPROM has another official partner, and that is Indonesia. The biggest industrial nation of South East Asia may try to do what the Saudis want to do with their region. Russian (and other) robots and drones are welcome.
Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
