Introduction: Russia inherited a legacy of  numerous environmental problems, from severe air pollution to radioactive contamination. in addition today i am going to talk you all the information of this environmental problems in Russia

Air Pollution Air pollution is a significant problem in several major Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also in some smaller cities, where industrial facilities are under less scrutiny for environmental compliance. Russia's air quality standards remain below US and European norms, although Russia's are becoming stricter as environmental awareness grows.Single-source pollution is a major contributor to Russia's air pollution problems. Most power plants in Russia are aging and lack modern pollution control equipment, resulting in large amounts of toxic emissions and waste. Several major cities are threatened by these problems, as are delicate ecosystems such as Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake. 

Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is home to approximately 1,500 indigenous species of flora and fauna, but the lake is threatened by runoff and air pollution from both a cellulose production plant on one of Baikal's major tributaries, and a coal-fired power plant on another. 

Although Russia's massive industrial sector is responsible for much of the country's air pollution problems, nonpoint pollution - mainly in the form of motor vehicles - in playing an increasing role. 

Motor vehicles are subject to only minimal environmental regulations, and automobile emissions (i.e. lead, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides) in major cities are major sources of air pollution. Furthermore, private vehicle ownership is on the increase, meaning that the transportation sector is not only seeing more automobile traffic, but also a rise in emissions and a corresponding increase in its share of the air pollution problem.

On the other hand, the Russian authorities

continue to pass legislation related to the climate and carbon regulation, and new projects are being launched, such as an experiment on the Far East island of Sakhalin to become carbon neutral by the end of 2025. 

Oil and Natural Gas Issues The oil and gas extraction industries not only contribute to the air pollution problem in Russia, but are also significant sources of pollution in their own right. Environmental standards are weak, enforcement is poor, and small-scale accidents, pipeline leakage, and tanker spills have contaminated many areas of Russia

Oil pipelines in areas like the Tyumen region and Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous district leak significant volumes of oil. Serious health problems from oil pollution have been reported in the more contaminated areas. Oil spills in Siberian rivers near the city of Nizhnevartovsk, for example, have polluted drinking water and have been linked to increased cancer rates in several affected areas. The most severe problems however, are in Chechnya, where an estimated 30 million barrels of oil have leaked into the ground from the region's black market pirate oil industry.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, thieves have tapped into the pipelines and have stolen large quantities of oil from reserves at refineries in Grozny. Also, according to Russian military ecologists, an estimated 15,000 "mini-refineries" have been built. These mini-refineries, which produce less petroleum products from the crude oil that they process than do normal refineries, typically dump their residual refining wastes with little regard for the environmental consequences, contaminating the ground and water supplies,rivers and fish.

The Institute of Economic Forecasting within the Russian Academy of Sciences predicts that Russia’s potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have almost halved by 2050

Radioactivity and Nuclear Waste Currently, there are 10 operating nuclear power plants with 30 reactors in Russia, some of which are first generation RBMK reactors similar to the ones that operated in Chernobyl in Ukraine. Although maintenance has improved in recent years and security against terrorist attacks has increased with the cooperation and financial assistance of the United States, the Russian nuclear industry nevertheless continues to register numerous accidents and incidents. The European Union considers the RBMK reactor design to be fundamentally-flawed since it does not have a containment dome.

Nevertheless, despite safety concerns, Russia is seeking to extend the operating life of several reactors that are nearing the end of their proscribed operating lifespan, as well as increase the country's nuclear capacity by building 40 new reactors by 2030.

Radioactive contamination has damaged several regions in Russia. Lake Karachay, adjacent to the Mayak complex in Chelyabinsk, is one example of the nuclear industry's careless past, and is now considered to be one of the most polluted spots on Earth

Lake Karachay has been reported to contain 120 million curies of radioactive waste, including seven times the amount of strontium-90 and cesium-137 that was released in the April 1986 explosion of the Unit 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The area surrounding the Mayak complex suffers from radioactive pollutants from over 50 years of plutonium production, processing and storage

Carbon Dioxide Emissions The collapse of the Soviet Union and Russia's ensuing economic contraction led to a dramatic decrease in Russian carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the early- and mid-1990s. The severe decline of industrial production in the country, highlighted by the closure of hundreds of factories, resulted in a huge drop in CO2 emissions. In 1992, the first full year after the demise of the USSR, Russian carbon dioxide emissions stood at 573.5 million metric tons, but by 1997, the country's emissions had fallen to 394.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide - a 31% decline in just five years' time.Carbon Dioxide Emissions.

Russia signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on June 13, 1992, then ratified it on December 28, 1994. Russia signed the Kyoto Protocol, which mandates specific commitments by countries to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) by an average of 5.2% below 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012 period, on March 11, 1999. Under the terms of the climate change agreement, Russia is not required to cut its emissions; since it was classified as a country in transition, Russia merely must maintain its