--- title: "Dirtbag of the Year: Russia plunges ahead with war on environment" description: "South Africa and the UK’s Foreign Office also earned dishonourable mentions." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "2024 PEOPLE OF THE YEAR" author: "Tiara Walters" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/tiarawalters/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-12-25-dirtbag-of-the-year-russia-plunges-ahead-with-war-on-environment/" published: "2024-12-25T10:02:51" updated: "2024-12-24T17:06:45" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 830 --- # Dirtbag of the Year: Russia plunges ahead with war on environment > South Africa and the UK’s Foreign Office also earned dishonourable mentions. By Tiara Walters · Published 25 December 2024, 12:02 SAST · Updated 24 December 2024, 19:06 SAST ## Key points - In a world where a ship festooned with the excrement of 19,000 mistreated cows is the least of our worries, the Kremlin has emerged as the reigning champion of environmental villainy, using Cape Town as a launchpad for its Antarctic oil dreams while simultaneously blocking penguin protections and conducting seismic surveys that sound like a marine life horror movie. - Cape Town faces a foul stench as the Al Kuwait cattle carrier, laden with the waste of 19,000 abused cows, docks in the city. - The Kremlin's Akademik Alexander Karpinsky is accused of violating Antarctic environmental laws while pursuing fossil fuel ambitions in the Southern Ocean. - Despite UK officials denying Russian seismic surveys in Antarctica, evidence from Rosgeo contradicts this, raising concerns over enforcement of the mining ban. - Cape Town Mayor condemns the city's role as a logistical hub for Russian state vessels, while Russia and China block crucial environmental protections in Antarctic governance. ## Content Can anything be fouler than a ship [covered in the poo of 19,000 abused cows](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-02-20-inside-the-stinking-ship-at-cape-town-harbour-carrying-19000-cattle-to-the-middle-east/), filling Cape Town’s central parts with an unbearable stench? This year, you decided that the Russian government trounced the Al Cowait… we mean Al *Kuwait* cattle carrier’s foul-smelling sojourn in port. For, among others, using Cape Town as a staging ground [for its Antarctic fossil fuel ambitions](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-25-using-cape-town-as-a-launchpad-russia-boasts-of-supergiant-oil-fields-in-antarctic-wilderness/), it was the Kremlin that scooped “Dirtbag of the Year”. At the heart of a melting wilderness that’s steadily more [*eish*](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/eish) than ice, there’s the [Akademik Alexander Karpinsky](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-05-17-gentlemans-agreement-despite-mining-ban-russia-scours-antarctica-for-massive-fossil-fuel-deposits/), a vessel owned by — *uh-huh* — Kremlin *mineral* explorer Rosgeo. Mineral resources activities “[other than scientific research](about:blank)” are banned under the Madrid Protocol, the Antarctic Treaty’s environmental laws. So you also found it pretty rich to learn that Rosgeo claims to have found [15 years of global oil consumption](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-05-17-gentlemans-agreement-despite-mining-ban-russia-scours-antarctica-for-massive-fossil-fuel-deposits/) (500 billion barrels) in none other than the Southern Ocean. Its Antarctic studies, Rosgeo concedes, “[ensure guarantees](http://www.pmge.ru/index.php?id=667&lang=RUS) of Russia’s full participation in any form of possible future development of the Antarctic mineral resources”. #### **Skop, skiet en donner** Just science, yes? If it can’t get weirder than looking for hydrocarbons in “[ground zero for runaway climate change](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/klaus-dodds-4a839634_what-is-antarctica-activity-7199736247026601984-vfQ9/)”, it’s surely ecocidal [for its seismic airguns](http://www.pmge.ru/?id=680&lang=ENG) to map its ocean floor using sound explosions that can hurt and kill marine life. You’ve also read [cracking good research](https://environments.aq/publications/marine-noise-in-the-southern-ocean/) reviewed by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, explaining what this sonic assault does to sensitive species. ’Tis the season, so we’ll spare you. But trust us. It’s horrible — especially in a reserve devoted to “peaceful” things. #### **Seismic porky pies** When quizzed at [Westminster’s Antarctic inquiry](https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/baf2592f-6c6c-410e-b10f-119eef2e654d) on December 11, the UK’s Foreign Office responded with Olympic-level irrelevance. There is not “any evidence” that Russian “seismic surveys” are taking place in Antarctica, [it said at 4.16pm](https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/baf2592f-6c6c-410e-b10f-119eef2e654d), to the susurrations of James Gray, the obscure former candidate for South Cotswolds, dozing off in the background. But Rosgeo wrote [in its own statement](https://rusgeology.ru/en/press/news/rosgeologiya-vypolnila-issledovaniya-geologicheskogo-stroeniya-i-neftegazovogo-potentsiala-shelfa-an/?sphrase_id=4469)in 2020: “The overall length of the comprehensive seismic and gravimagnetic explorations within the Antarctic Shelf seas for all time of explorations is more than 140,000 line km.” Foreign Office officials told the inquiry that the UK, together with Russia, reaffirmed the mining ban at the 2023 annual talks. Is reaffirming the ban a get-out-of-jail-free card? Or an invocation to enforce the laws you have sworn to uphold? Answers to our questions were not received. *Anyhoo*, the picaresque Karpinsky — [under US energy sanctions](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-02-28-us-sanctions-target-russian-ship-surveying-for-antarctic-oil-and-gas-via-cape-town/) since February — [is scheduled](https://eies.ats.aq/Report/VesselsByPartyRpt?yearF=2024&yearT=2024&period=1&filter=1&title=National%20Non-Military%20Ships) to pitch and roll back to Antarctica this season. #### **South Africa and the convenience of complicity** This year, you also learnt Russia’s ships have used Cape Town as a cargo node to build its new [$108-million Vostok research station](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-12-03-how-cape-town-played-a-vital-link-in-russian-oligarch-leonid-mikhelsons-multimillion-dollar-antarctic-outpost/) in East Antarctica — part-bankrolled by the personal fortune of the gas oligarch Leonid Mikhelson. Let’s spare a thought for Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. Aghast at being turned into Moscow’s logistical support hub, he has called Russian state vessels, including the Karpinsky, a “[shameful, moral disgrace](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-02-07-its-a-moral-disgrace-cape-town-mayor-spits-fire-as-russian-seismic-ship-sails-to-antarctica/)”. In his defence, port access is the national government’s [*jol*](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jol), which is backing the Kremlin by agreeing with its definition of “scientific research” … *whatever that is*. Democratic Alliance spokesperson Andrew de Blocq says the party thinks the Karpinsky’s activities “are [in contravention of the Madrid Protocol](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-11-26-russias-antarctic-flagship-the-akademik-fedorov-sails-into-cape-town-as-part-of-brics-jamboree/) and constitute exploration with a future intention of exploitation”. #### **A rogues’ gallery of obstruction** In 2024, you were saddened to hear that [Russia blocked “specially protected species”](https://documents.ats.aq/ATCM46/fr/ATCM46_fr001_e.pdf) status for emperor penguins — whose millennia-year-old march comes to an end [within a human lifetime](https://theconversation.com/antarcticas-emperor-penguins-could-be-extinct-by-2100-and-other-species-may-follow-if-we-dont-act-196563) if we carry on like this. The Russian delegations also worked with geo padel buddy China to disagree with marine parks (‘[*Nyet — not enough science!*](https://meetings.ccamlr.org/system/files/meeting-reports/CCAMLR-43%20preliminary%20report_0.pdf)*’*); krill restrictions to stop ships from competing with natural predators (*‘*[*Not enough science!*](https://meetings.ccamlr.org/system/files/meeting-reports/CCAMLR-43%20preliminary%20report_0.pdf)*’*); and Canada’s bid for decision-making status (*‘*[*Not enou*…](https://documents.ats.aq/ATCM46/fr/ATCM46_fr001_e.pdf)’ … yup). This was no amateur dirtbaggery, you felt, but a creeping global tragedy plunging Antarctic governance into historic deadlock. ![An upclose view of a Ukraine Antarctic expedition, caught behind shards of glass. (Photo: Aleksandr Zakletsky, Yulia Kryvytska)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/eaTCYQ-n4YAFKppi6jkKuUBmBmE=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/tiara-2.jpeg) *An upclose view of a Ukraine Antarctic expedition, caught behind shards of glass. (Photo: Aleksandr Zakletsky, Yulia Kryvytska)* #### **Our shared humanity** In October 2022, [the force of Moscow’s missile](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-14-a-crime-against-science-itself-ukraine-antarctic-research-office-partly-destroyed-by-russian-missile-strike/) collapsed the ceiling of Kyiv’s Antarctic headquarters. Shattered team photos of Antarctic scientists — gentle people studying moss and penguins — flew off walls, landing among ripped-off blinds. The strike narrowly missed a historic climate server. And yet it’s difficult to appreciate what some Russian scientists have sacrificed by speaking out against President Vladimir Putin’s rampaging agenda. Yes, Kremlin dirtbaggery has broken hearts on both sides of the ice curtain. Despite its flaws, the Antarctic Treaty remains a beautiful thing worth defending. Putin’s Kremlin may want to destroy what it cannot control, but let’s refuse to give it our shared humanity. **DM** *This story first appeared in our weekly**Daily Maverick**168**newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.* ![cartoon](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/DM168-21122024001jhbis.jpg)