Next year we plan to work harder to conserve rare animal species. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has drafted amendments to the Criminal Code to increase the criminal liability for poaching endangered species, Environment Minister Sergei Donskoi said.

Violators will face up to three years of hard labour and fines of up to 500,000 roubles for poaching animals that are on the Russian Red Data Book or are protected by international treaties. Any member of an organised criminal group will be liable for up to a nine-year prison sentence and a fine of 3 million roubles. The tougher fines and sentences are justified because poaching is a major factor in the extinction of rare animals, including the snow leopard, and an increasing number of poachers have been caught recently.

Prior to 2017, the year of Specially Protected Nature Areas, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will designate five new such areas in the Republic of Karelia, in the regions of Ulyanovsk, Tomsk and Novosibirsk, and on the New Siberian Islands. Next year, special strategies, already drafted, are expected to be approved for conserving the Far Eastern stork, the bison, the crane and the saiga antelope.