The pollution spreading across southern Russia exposes environmental collapse under Putin’s system.


Arshak Makichyan is a Russian-Armenian climate activist and political scientist. Since 2019, he has co-organized the Fridays For Future movement in Ru... ssia. After speaking out against the full-scale invasion in 2022, he was forced into exile and deprived of his only Russian citizenship. He is now finishing a master’s degree in International Affairs at Hertie School in Berlin.
The pollution spreading across southern Russia exposes environmental collapse under Putin’s system.
