Putin orders to plan, finance decontamination of Usolye-Sibirskoye

MOSCOW, Jul 30 (PRIME) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered to elaborate a plan to decontaminate and liquidate all accumulated waste in the Irkutsk Region's city of Usolye-Sibirskoye, he said at a meeting on Thursday.

Environmental troubles in the city have accumulated since the 1930s, when a large chemical production was launched, Putin said. The facilities are now in emergency, he said.

"I suggest creating a working group between authorities. And, as I said, chaired by (Deputy Prime Minister) Viktoria Valeryevna Abramchenko. And your main task is to work on and fulfill a plan of measures to decontaminate and liquidate all accumulated waste, to purify the contaminated territories in the city of Usolye-Sibirskoye," Putin said.

He asked to report on the progress of the first stage of emergency liquidation in three months.

Putin also ordered the Finance Ministry to promptly allocate funds for the decontamination. "As I heard from the deputy finance minister, the sources are clear, the amount is clear – it is a big money, we need to send it there on these tasks because people's lives are the dearest thing in the world," the president said.

Nuclear power corporation Rosatom said that it was ready to fulfill an all-encompassing decontamination program in the city.

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