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A man looks at the damage caused by prairie fires in his village of Shyra, in the Khakassie region of southern Siberia (image for illustration). REUTERS / Ilya Naymushin

Climate mobilization continues, including in countries where environmental activists are struggling to convince. This is the case in Russia: several events took place all over the country this Saturday - gathering a few hundred people at most. Difficult to mobilize in a country where activists face the hostility of the authorities, and the indifference of the population.

With our correspondent in Moscow, Daniel Vallot

They are a hundred gathered in front of a platform, this demonstration for the defense of the environment was authorized in extremis by the authorities, but on condition that it takes place far from the center of Moscow, in a park of the city, at the corner of an isolated alley.

" I think it's a bit absurd to demonstrate here because we're in a lost corner," said one activist. There is no one who passes by here ... If one wanted to have an influence on the society, one would have to be able to manifest in the center ! That's why the government sends us here. "

In the middle of the small group of demonstrators, the Russian branch of the NGO Greenpeace unfurls its banner. Konstantin Fomine, spokesman of the organization is optimistic: " The climate is a problem still abstract for many people, but lately there have been events that have shown us that the question is not so far away: there have been floods in Siberia, and also forest fires ... There is a very rapid awareness in Russia too. "

For many environmental activists, it is the local causes that mobilize the Russian population. The issue of waste and the opening of dumps outside Moscow continue to anger residents. Especially in the north of the country, where the authorities want to bury the dumps of the Russian capital.

→ A (re) listen: The Moscow region is drowning in toxic waste