Sergei Donskoi, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, demanded an inquiry into the cruel murder of a polar bear, calling for criminal punishment to the full extent of the law of those guilty of the crime. The murder was captured on a video and posted online.

“Maximum punishment for such crimes is up to seven years in prison. On our part we’ll do everything for the inquiry into this crime to proceed as fast as possible. We’ll make sure all those involved in this crime get the punishment they deserve,” the ministry’s Press Secretary Nikolai Gudkov reported.

In addition, Governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Area Roman Kopin sent messages to the regional prosecutor, heads of regional departments of the Federal Security Service, the Ministry of the Interior and the Investigative Committee on the need to conduct an objective, professional investigation into the crime committed on the territory of the Federal Nature Reserve Wrangel Island.

State Duma Deputy Oleg Mikheyev, Konstantin Dobrynin, State Secretary of the Bar, Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and the Development of the State, and Director of the Big Moscow State Circus Edgard Zapashny demanded an inquiry into the murder of the Red Book animal.

The Prosecutor’s Office of the Chukotka Autonomous Area began an inquiry into the incident.

“This is a typical example. The Arctic development attracts many untrained people. They don’t know how to behave when they encounter a polar bear and violate the prescribed security rules. The managers of construction companies operating in the region should by all means explain to their employees what to do in such cases. It is not allowed to feed polar bears even out of good motives,” Head of the WWF Polar Bear Patrol Viktor Nikiforov said.