Pomors rage as Moscow restricts local sailing
Thousands of small-ship owners around the White Sea dispair as a new federal law restricts free sailing in their home waters.
Arkhangelsk regional governor Igor Orlov is pushing on Moscow for an amendment as new legislation raises high emotions among his local countrymen.
The controversial law introduced in late 2014 bans movements of boats smaller than 20 meter long in port areas. That is seriously effecting as many as 14000 regional shipowners, many of whom are highly dependent on their small boats for movements around the regional archipelago.
The consequence of the law is that the small boats can no longer enter the port areas of Arkhangelsk, Onega, Solovki, Mezen and Kotlas, as well as other local towns.
The law has triggered a sharp reaction from locals, and the governor fears social unrest unless the legislation is amended, Dvinanews.ru reports. Governor Orlov is now calling on the federal Ministry of Transport to ease the restrictions.
“We cannot stay indifferent to the issue of sailing of small boats in the waters of Arkhangelsk”, Orlov says. “The authors of the law have not taken into account all issues related to local life in territories like Arkhangelsk and the adjacent archipelago”, he adds.
In a letter to federal Minister of Transport Maksim Sokolov, Governor Orlov underlines that the sailing ban encroaches on peoples’ constitutional right of free movement, Dvinanews writes.
