For the Russian environment, 2023 might go into the history books as the year when the Kremlin effectively dismantled those groups that had been the loudest independent voices on ecological issues and had the largest public support base. As part of a wider anti-Western stance, this year Russia labeled prominent international NGOs such as Bellona, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund “undesirable.” All had been present in the country since the Soviet collapse. This designation effectively banned them from working in Russia and deemed any form of cooperation with them a crime. “The work of pro…