"Russia does not need overseas investment to lay the pipeline but welcomes the participation of foreign companies -- Japanese, in particular -- in its construction," he said after a meeting with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari.

Siberian petroleum is welcome in energy-hungry Japan, which will import 15 million metric tons of fuel annually. "There are more problems about pipeline construction than ever, with adverse climate and terrain; 94 percent of the route runs over rock and permafrost, so a lot of demolition was carried out. The line also crosses 107 rivers," says Semyon Vainshtok, president of Transneft, a company responsible for the project.

The line, 2,757 kilometers long, runs from the Taishet oil field in the Irkutsk Region to Kozmino port near Nakhodka, on the coast of the Sea of Japan, where special terminals are being built to cater for Japanese tankers. More than 1,000 kilometers of piping has been laid so far. The line will be completed on schedule, by the end of 2008, Vainshtok says.

Industry is a must. Environmentalists know this but do everything in their power to ease its grip on wildlife. Several hundred people signed a letter from the Japanese green league to President Vladimir Putin, which was delivered to the Russian Embassy in Tokyo last year. They urged the Russian president to order the route of the pipeline to be changed.

Initial plans envisaged the line crossing protected areas -- the coast of Lake Baikal, a unique reservoir on the UNESCO Heritage List, and the Barsovo and Kedrovaya Pad nature reserves, the habitat of endangered Far Eastern leopards.

Russian and Japanese environmental experts fought tirelessly to ward off the danger. At last, Putin ordered the route to be shifted 40 km from Baikal. Later, the terminus was transferred from Perevoznaya Bay to Kozmino.

The wildlife of the Sea of Japan is protected from the tempests of the Pacific Ocean by narrow straits -- but there is nothing to protect it from economic progress. This small sea is set to become a busy oil route.

The East Siberia-Pacific pipeline endangers the environment, as any oil project does -- suffice it to mention any number of disastrous tanker wrecks. It is therefore imperative for government agencies to minimize risks and for insurers to provide the funds to deal with problems as soon as they arise.

The Sea of Japan faces not only man-caused dangers. There is a veritable web of biological risks. Though only a small northern part of it laps the Russian shore, it is of crucial importance to the whole sea. A number of nature preserves have been established there. The Far Eastern Reserve, set up in 1978 in the Peter the Great Gulf, presently has the status of a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Of the reserve's 64,316 hectares, 63,000 are open sea. Of the land areas the Rimsky-Korsakov Archipelago is the most fully protected. Posiet Bay and Furugelm Island are home to sea cucumber, scallop and giant oyster farms. Popov Island hosts a marine wildlife museum. Inhabiting the area are 250 varieties of fish and numerous invertebrates. Yet the mere status of a reserve is not enough to protect it. Despite the efforts of environmentalists, poachers have destroyed the local crab, shrimp and Japanese salmon populations, warns the Russian branch of the Wildlife Fund.

The reserve is patrolled by its own security, officers of the Agriculture Ministry and the Rosprirodnadzor federal service for the oversight of natural resources, coast guards and the Maritime Inspectorate. But they are not enough to effectively guard the area, which is infested with poachers who supply sea cucumbers, urchins and scallops to luxury restaurants in China and Japan. Russian restaurants, wary of the law, don't generally offer these delicacies. Only occasional orders by blase and extremely rich gastronomists are served on the quiet.

(Tatyana Sinitsyna is a commentator for RIA Novosti. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

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