A bill banning marine mammal catches for cultural and educational purposes will be submitted to the State Duma in the next few weeks, Vladimir Burmatov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology and Environmental Protection, told RIA Novosti.

According to Burmatov, the Government has approved the text of the bill, with some amendments.

“We have coordinated the text of this bill with the Government. The document has been approved with several legal and technical remarks,” Burmatov said, adding that the remarks will be taken into consideration and the bill will be modified.

Burmatov also recalled that, in 2018, 11 orcas and 90 white whales had been found in Srednyaya Bay after being illegally caught with the intention of selling them to China. Investigators opened a case on illegal catches of marine biological resources and cruelty to animals. In June 2019, the orcas and white whales were  released into the wild. On June 27, the first two orcas and six white whales were released into the Sea of Okhotsk, and the remaining white whales swam off into the Sea of Japan on November 10. All enclosures were eventually removed from Srednyaya Bay in the Primorye Territory.