On black smoke: residents of Adygea complain massively about producers of burnt coal
Residents of several settlements of Adygea appealed to law enforcement agencies with a request to ban local entrepreneurs from burning charcoal. According to them, production is carried out right on the territory of the villages, which is why there is acrid smoke in the air. At the same time, local authorities refuse to initiate cases, and the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, promised to take the situation under control. Similar complaints have been received in recent years from the Belgorod, Vladimir, Kemerovo, Amur regions and a number of republics of the North Caucasus, experts noted. About who burns coal and why, and what harm it causes to nature and local residents, is in the Izvestia article.
Residents of Adygea complain about coal producers
Residents of the village of Krasnooktyabrsky and the village of Novosvobodnaya in Adygea complained to the Investigative Committee of Russia about smoke from coal production. According to them, since June 2025, entrepreneurs have been burning wood near their settlements. Because of this, there is a thick acrid smoke in the air, which makes it impossible to breathe.
"As of June 23, 2025, there were ten coal-burning furnaces. The entrepreneur is trying to conduct production covertly," the collective complaint says (available from Izvestia).
According to local residents, the businessman is violating the law by using the farmlands of Adygea for other purposes. Several large families live in the village, and many people "feel worse because of the burning - they have cough, headache, irritation of the respiratory tract, and other symptoms of intoxication."
They usually start burning wood in the evening, Elizaveta Komkova, a resident of Novosvobodnaya, told Izvestia (her name was changed at her request).
— It's hard to sleep with the windows closed, you have to open them and breathe burning. And when the smell is strong, it even makes my throat tickle," she noted.
In her opinion, homemade furnaces are used in production — metal barrels without any filters.
"This threatens not only this year's harvest, but also makes the land unsuitable for further agricultural use," she believes.
The head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, instructed the head of the regional investigative department, Vasily Larin, to check on the appeal. The course of its execution is under the control of the central office.
How local authorities work
In July 2025, residents of Novosvobodnaya village also appealed to the administration of the Maikop district. The document was forwarded to the Department for Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Adygea, the regional Rospotrebnadzor and the local department of Rosprirodnadzor.
"The residential area is located at least 2.5 km from the border of the coal burning site. According to the requirements of the SanPiN, the sanitary protection zone is 500 m. According to the research results, the atmospheric air parameters for the determined indicators, in particular, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen oxide, are within acceptable values," Rospotrebnadzor said in a response to residents on July 25 (Izvestia has it).
The Interior Ministry in the Maikop district refused to open a criminal case against local residents under the article on "Damage to land" due to the lack of evidence of a crime. During the inspection, it turned out that in June 2025, the entrepreneur brought six barrels of charcoal processing to the village of Novosvobodnaya.
"The citizen confirmed that on June 30 he was heating barrels, but there was no strong smoke coming from them. He added that the area where he burns coals is located 3 km from residential buildings," the decree says (Izvestia has it).
They noted that a request had been sent to the Rosselkhoznadzor for the Krasnodar Territory and Adygea with a request to send a specialist to examine the soil and take soil samples, however, "no response was provided before the end of the due diligence period." And because of the incompleteness of the collected material, "it is necessary to contact the prosecutor's office with a request to re-check."
In early July, the Department for Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Adygea sent a response to the head of the administration of the Maikop district after appeals from residents of two more villages: Kurdzhipskaya and Dagestan, as well as the village of Tabachny. According to the document reviewed by the editorial board, at the time of the inspection, ten barrels for burning coal were found in Kurdzhipskaya. At the same time, the land plot, according to the unified state register of real estate, belongs to the category of agricultural land.
"The facts of misuse of land plots have been recorded. At the time of the inspection of the territory, charcoal burning was not carried out, but, according to local residents, it is carried out mainly at night and at night," the document says.
In total, since the beginning of 2025, the department has received nine appeals from citizens, the department told Izvestia. At the same time, for the whole of 2024, there were 18 complaints - they were sent by residents of the village of Novosvobodnaya, the villages of Tabachny and Krasnooktyabrsky, the hamlets of Northeastern Gardens and Grozny, and the city of Maikop. In addition, seven entrepreneurs who burned coal were brought to administrative responsibility last year. According to the agency, production on agricultural land is still ongoing.
Who else is worried about the acrid smoke
Illegal burning of wood in barrels in Adygea has been carried out since at least 2019, Izvestia found out. Despite numerous complaints to the administration, the problem persists in the villages of Sadovy, Pervomaisky, on the farms of Grozny and Krasny Bridge.
"In the village of Pervomaisky, it is impossible to open the windows every evening. People were collecting signatures, but nothing has changed: they burned and burned," a local resident wrote on social media.
Inna Rebrova (first and last name changed at her request) told Izvestia that her family had to leave the village of Krasnooktyabrsky because of charcoal burners.
— My child went to the hospital with an allergic reaction — a horse dose of hormones, they barely got him out. I attribute all this to the fact that we inhaled smoke," she said.
According to her, there is a kindergarten in the village among the forest, and there are furnaces a few hundred meters from it. In July 2024, the head of the Maikop district, Mikhail Maryin, reported on the Telegram channel that specialists were checking the operation of coal plants in the Blinovaya Gora area near Sadovoye farm and Krasnooktyabrsky village.
"At one of the production facilities, several of the 14 containers available to the entrepreneur were loaded with wood. As a result of its burning, clouds of smoke rise into the air. Gorenje Administrative measures will be taken against the businessman," the head of the Maikop district wrote.
Rosprirodnadzor informed Izvestia that according to the register of objects of negative impact on the environment, "there are no objects subject to federal state environmental control at the addresses indicated in the appeal."
The Southern Interregional Department of Rosprirodnadzor replied that the situation with coal fires in Adygea and related issues are not within the competence of the department. Izvestia also sent requests to the federal and local departments of Rospotrebnadzor, the republican Investigative Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office with a request to report on the results of inspections and the state of farmland in the villages of Adygea for July 2025.
How to deal with coal producers
Alexander Bastrykin also instructed in October 2024 to check the legality of the work of coal burners in the Maikop district. A month later, a criminal case was opened on the damage of agricultural land by charcoal production waste, the press service of the regional Investigative Committee reported. According to the investigation, the damage amounted to more than 24 million rubles.
Illegal activities were carried out near the village of Krasnooktyabrsky. As the inspection showed, the maximum permissible concentration of substances belonging to extremely and moderately dangerous hazard classes was exceeded in the soil there. The prosecutor's office of Adygea noted that six businessmen were engaged in coal production in the Maikop district.
In December 2024, Dmitry Nalivaiko, assistant prosecutor of the Maikop district, reported on a local TV channel that 24 individual entrepreneurs were engaged in illegal activities. The head of Adygea, Murat Kumpilov, also commented on the situation, calling coal production in the republic "in the form it takes place" illegal.
"It's easier for those who engage in this illegal activity to close down, because the state will continue to monitor this very closely," he said.
As reported by the Adyghe media, the number of illegal charcoal production has been growing since 2019. Then, according to the administration of the Maikop district, eight businessmen were punished, the amount of fines exceeded 260 thousand rubles.
In July 2025, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Adygea also confirmed the validity of the ban on coal production on agricultural land.
Do charcoal burners harm the environment and health
The story reported by the residents of Adygea clearly demonstrates one of the chronic environmental problems of the Russian regions, said Ekaterina Kosareva, Managing partner of the analytical agency VMT Consult.
— This situation is typical not only for this region. Similar complaints have been received in recent years from the Belgorod, Vladimir, Kemerovo, Amur regions and a number of republics of the North Caucasus," she noted. — In most cases, we are talking about artisanal charcoal burners located in remote areas, where it is difficult for inspectors to reach and where it is easier to hide the scale of work.
The geography of the problem actually covers the entire country, especially regions with a rich forest base and weak environmental surveillance infrastructure. According to her, dozens of illegal locations are identified annually in each of the forest regions, but the real number, according to experts, may be two to three times higher due to remote and hard-to-reach territories.
From the point of view of environmental hazard, three groups of charcoal production technologies can be conditionally distinguished, Vladimir Melnik, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Head of the Department of Geotechnology of the development of the subsoil of NUST MISIS, told Izvestia.
— Complaints about acrid smoke may be related to outdated production technologies of the first group. At the same time, the emission of harmful substances is about 1 ton per 1 ton of coal produced," the expert explained. — When using technologies of the second group, the emission of harmful substances is about 200 kg per 1 ton of coal produced, and with the third — about 8 kg.
Coal—fired plants are dangerous not only for their location, but also for their low emissions, which is when pollutants spread near the earth's surface, ecologist Roman Pukalov, director of environmental programs at the all-Russian public organization Green Patrol, told Izvestia.
— The main pollution from such industries is suspended solids, including small ones, which are tiny particles, in fact, soot. They can enter the lungs and even enter the alveoli," he explained.
Such productions should be strictly controlled and separated by a sanitary protection zone from both valuable natural objects and residential areas.
"Such a seemingly small, harmless, but constant source of pollution near the earth's surface can have a strong negative impact primarily on human respiratory organs, as well as stimulate the occurrence of chronic diseases," he stressed.
People living near coal production and constantly inhaling harmful substances can develop chronic headaches, allergies, asthma, eczema, and an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and cancer, said Fuad Seifullayev, a general practitioner at the Sinai Clinic.
— When burning wood, dangerous substances are released: formaldehydes, benzopyrenes, carbon monoxide. They irritate the respiratory tract, enter the bloodstream and can cause acute symptoms such as headache, nausea, and cough. Among the chronic consequences are damage to the cardiovascular and nervous systems, cognitive impairments, decreased immunity, and the risk of lung cancer," the specialist explained.
According to the doctor, if it is not possible to leave the village next to which the charcoal burners are located, special respirators should be used when going outside.
What could threaten entrepreneurs?
If the investigation proves that smoke emissions from charcoal burners in Adygea caused harm to the health of local residents, entrepreneurs could face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 3 million rubles, lawyer Albert Khaleyan told Izvestia.
— Their actions fall under the criminal article "Land damage". But if we are talking about damage to land as a result of violations of the rules of waste management of coal production, which caused harm to the environment, then the punishment can range from a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles to restriction of freedom for up to two years," the expert noted.
Residents of Adyghe villages have the right to demand compensation for health damage, but their activity in collecting evidence will be crucial, the lawyer added.
— The experience of other regions, such as Khakassia, Primorye, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Amur Region, shows that it is possible to stop such activities. Residents need to continue to record violations, contact Rosprirodnadzor and Rospotrebnadzor — it is important to obtain an act on exceeding the maximum permissible concentration of harmful substances. Medical certificates and medical records can also serve as the basis for a claim," he said.
As compensation, residents of Adygea can be reimbursed for medical treatment and medicines, moral damage, as well as lost income if a person was unable to work during the illness, added Natalia Shaluba, managing partner of Veritas Lex.
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