Oleg Lvovich Mitvol (russian: Олег Львович Митволь) (born October 3, 1966) is a Russian environmentalist, businessman and government official, known for his activity in the chair of environmental protection department.

Career

Media tycoon (1997-2003)

In 1997 - 2003 Mitvol was the chairman of the JSC newspaper ''

Novye Izvestia ''Novye Izvestia'' (russian: Новые Известия) is an daily newspaper, published in Moscow, Russia. History It was founded in 1997 by a group of journalists who left ''Izvestia'' newspaper, with the financial backing of Boris Berezovsk ...

''. As media tycoon Boris Berezovsky, owner of the newspaper, had fled from Russia to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Mitvol obtained a 76% share in the newspaper from him, but Berezovsky effectively continued to support the newspaper financially. However, on February 20, 2003, Oleg Mitvol, citing a decision of a meeting of the board, kept secret from the journalists despite their 24% share, accused Director General of Novye Izvestiya Igor Golembiovsky of misappropriation of funds and fired him. The publication was suspended. Berezovsky claimed that Mitvol's move was politically motivated, as the newspaper was opposed to President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

and on that very day had published an article by

Vladimir Pribylovsky Vladimir Valerianovich Pribylovsky (russian: Влади́мир Валериа́нович Прибыло́вский, 6 March 195613 January 2016) was a Soviet and Russian political scientist, historian, journalist, human rights activist, and a ...

about the allegedly emerging cult of Putin's personality.

Environmental regulator (2004-2009)

In April 2004 he was made Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources. He soon became attracting media attention with

environmental crime Environmental crime is an illegal act which directly harms the environment. These illegal activities involve the environment, wildlife, biodiversity and natural resources. International bodies such as, G8, Interpol, European Union, United Nation ...

s investigations. One of the famous campaigns by Mitvol was "

Dacha A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...

war", against elite cottage settlements that were illegally built in the

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

area on

Istra River Istra () is a river in Moscow Oblast, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognis ...

shores. The "Piatnitsa" cottage settlement was ordered to be deconstructed. It was followed by protests of cottage owners. Another of his activities was about Pacific

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...

island environment and its possible damage by oil-gathering companies. In September 2006, he threatened to revoke environmental authorisation for

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

Sakhalin II The Sakhalin-2 (russian: Сахалин-2) project is an oil and gas development in Sakhalin Island, Russia. It includes development of the Piltun-Astokhskoye oil field and the Lunskoye natural gas field offshore Sakhalin Island in the Okhotsk ...

oil and gas production project. Mitvol was known by some in the UK press as "the Kremlin's attack dog" as a result. On 14 December 2006, Sergei Sai, Head of the Service, tried - and failed - to fire Mitvol from this position. The next day, Mitvol brought in London lawyer Mark Stephens to take proceedings to preserve the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

. On 18 January 2008 tendered his resignation of his position of deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor. This was rejected by minister of natural resources

Yury Trutnev Yury Petrovich Trutnev (russian: Ю́рий Петро́вич Тру́тнев; born 1 March 1956) is a Russian politician who serves as a Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District since 2013. F ...

. After what can be termed several attempts by his superiors at his constructive dismissal, in April 2009 Mitvol resigned again.

Accusation of plagiarism

According to examination performed by

Dissernet Dissernet (russian: Диссернет) is a volunteer community network working to clean Russian science of plagiarism. The core activity of the community is conducting examinations of doctoral and habilitation (higher doctorate) theses defended ...

, both doctoral (2002) and higher doctoral (2004) theses of Mitvol contain gross plagiarism from several doctoral and higher doctoral theses.Театр одного Митволя
//

Echo of Moscow Echo of Moscow (russian: links=no, Эхо Москвы, translit=Ekho Moskvy) was a 24/7 commercial Russian radio station based in Moscow. It broadcast in many Russian cities, some of the former Soviet republics (through partnerships with local ra ...

References and notes

External links