Special projects for rare species conservation are producing positive shifts, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Vokrug Sveta magazine.

“At the very beginning, when we were starting to support projects for the research and conservation of rare species, we chose several both recognisable and problematic animal species. Problematic mainly due to the number of issues we had to resolve,” President Putin said.

According to Vladimir Putin, the achievements include substantial support provided for research projects and significant toughening of penalties for poaching and the illegal sale of hunting gear. “Most importantly, the programmes served as a driving force for navigating cooperation between the state, business and society in the regions where work was being conducted,” he stressed.

Vladimir Putin is confident that the current approach is the only one acceptable for nature conservation. “We deliberately work with rare species of Russian fauna. Using their example, we can easier understand all the difficulties… As we found out, specific environmental problems of conservation are behind the problems of these rare species. And this is becoming obvious not only to specialists, but also to businesses and ordinary people,” Mr Putin noted.