Steven Seagal Says Stricter Laws Needed to Protect Lake Baikal From Pollution

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2020) Steven Seagal, a Hollywood actor and a member of the political council of Russia's For Truth party, has told Sputnik in an interview that stricter environmental laws would help protect Lake Baikal from environmental damage.

In early September, Segal was appointed the head of a Russian federal ecology project initiated by the For Truth party, to protect Baikal. One of the first steps taken under the initiative was the release of more than two thousand juvenile omuls into the lake, something that earned the actor special gratitude from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I have been appointed to be one of the responsible entities for protecting Lake Baikal and one of our main objectives is to be able to create new legislation that will be much more severe on the individuals that violate the law and/or bypass the law to pollute the lake," Seagal told Sputnik.

The actor added that he seeks to improve the lake's environment "not just with legislation but also through education" intended to teach Russian children to care more about their environment.

Earlier, Putin ordered the government to organize the year of Lake Baikal in Russia in cooperation with the authorities of the Russian Republic of Buryatia and Irkutsk Region.

According to Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian President in the Siberian Federal District Alexander Butin, no improvement in the ecological situation in the Baikal and the area around the lake had been achieved so far. Butin said that the Baikal's water pollution stemmed from the local authorities' ignorance of the legislation in the sphere of preferential protection of natural areas.

In 1996, UNESCO declared�Lake Baikal a World Heritage Site, nevertheless the lake is being heavily polluted. According to the Baikal Interregional Prosecutor's Office for Nature Protection, more than 1,200 illegal landfills operate near the lake's shores and up to 400 tonnes of waste water are dumped in the Baikal by industries and private households annually, not to mention minor wastes left by individuals.

Steven Seagal received Russian citizenship in 2016. Vladimir Putin personally presented the Russian passport to the actor, who had repeatedly expressed his warm feeling towards Russia and supported Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014.