As Russia grapples with a deepening pollution crisis, residents across the country are finding themselves in a predicament that goes beyond the confines of their immediate surroundings. The air they breathe, the water they drink, and the environment they inhabit are all under threat, yet the public's perception of these issues remains clouded by more pressing concerns.
In Ulan-Ude, the capital of Russia's Buryatia republic, the summer breeze offers a brief respite from the pervasive smog that blankets the city for most of the year. This smog is a byproduct of coal-fired power stations and the stoves used to heat the city's many single-family homes. A local resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, describes the situation: 'Problems with air pollution have existed here for a long time. Things are fine in spring and summer, but in winter, it is impossible to breathe at times.'
This scenario is not unique to Ulan-Ude. Siberia's cities and towns consistently rank among the most polluted in Russia, a consequence of their heavy reliance on coal, emissions from heavy industry, and increasingly severe wildfire seasons. According to a report by Rospotrebnadzor, a consumer safety watchdog, approximately 57% of Russia's population is now affected by air pollution, a stark increase from previous years.
However, as Russians grapple with fuel shortages and rising grocery prices, environmental concerns have taken a backseat. A native of Chelyabinsk, a major industrial hub in the Ural Mountains, laments the shift in public discourse: 'Surprisingly, the topic of air or water quality hasn't come up in recent years, although we used to talk about it a lot back in the day.'
The situation is mirrored in the Siberian highlands, where residents describe a similar outlook. A man from the republic of Tyva laments the air quality in winter, stating, 'The air in winter is terrible here. Soot from the coal is everywhere. A friend once came to visit me and was shocked when he blew black snot out of his nose, but we have gotten used to things like that. If our snot is that black, can you imagine the state of our lungs?'
The data from Rospotrebnadzor reveals a disturbing trend. In 2025, 83.6 million Russians were exposed to aggregate chemical pollution in water, air, and soil, compared to 79.1 million in 2024 and 75.4 million in 2023. This increase reverses years of declining pollution exposure that followed the 2016 launch of Russia's Clean Air Federal Project, which aimed to reduce emissions in dozens of industrial cities.
The reversal coincides with the government's decision to cut funding for several flagship state environmental programs, including Clean Air, by nearly halving its budget for 2024. A Russian environmental analyst attributes this to Western sanctions, the reorientation of exports toward Asia, and the economy's war footing since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They argue that the country's focus on military and industrial priorities has shifted away from environmental sustainability.
Businesses and corporations, once committed to implementing more environmentally sustainable practices, have also retreated. The departure of foreign investors and business partners after the start of the war has ended this trend, as companies now prioritize the Russian military-industrial complex over Western markets. The analyst notes, 'No one asks Russian companies for their ESG ratings anymore, or whether they even have such reporting. Chinese companies or other new buyers don’t care about that stuff.'
The embargo on Russian coal by Europe has further exacerbated the situation, freezing the country's energy transition. Coal-reliant regions in Siberia and the Far East have become a crucial domestic market for Russia's collapsing coal sector, an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people. This has led to a resistance against renewable energy sources from business owners and governors.
The real scale of Russia's pollution problem may be even more alarming than the Rospotrebnadzor data suggests. The lack of continuous air-quality monitoring systems in many polluted cities, including Norilsk and Krasnoyarsk, means that environmental agencies cannot provide accurate data on emissions and concentrations of harmful substances. This lack of comprehensive monitoring may help explain why contaminated drinking water was identified as the country's leading environmental health risk in 2025, causing 12,400 deaths compared to 6,100 linked to air pollution.
This conclusion contradicts earlier studies, which attributed 50-80% of health risks to air pollution. However, it is not a surprise that environmental deregulation has affected the quality of drinking water, especially in industrial hubs. Residents in several towns and cities across Siberia and the Urals boil tap water before use or rely on bottled water due to discoloration.
In Ulan-Ude, access to drinking water is still not considered a basic human right. Residents of nakhalovki, or informal settlements, live without plumbing and pay for water delivered by truck or collect it from public fountains. Apartment dwellers in the city center prefer to filter their tap water before drinking it, but environmental concerns are not a priority for most residents.
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