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An investigation has found that the design and exploration work undertaken by Gazprom is illegal, but prosecutors decided there was no need to intervene since the plateau had not been damaged, and have allowed the work to continue in 2012. Alexander Berdnikov, head of the Altai republic, has said that the pipeline does not present any danger because it will go through “zone C” of Ukok, where business activities are allowed.

Andrei Ivanov, the head of the nature protection fund Altai 21 Vek, disagrees, warning about the unpredictable consequences of digging in the deep-frozen soil of the Altai mountains.

“There are data that breaking up frozen earth leads to hydrological changes in the jetstream and to climate change,” Ivanov said, RIA Novosti reported. “And since the world is concerned about stabilizing the climate, such unique and pristine territories should be protected from any industrial influence.”

‘Moral violence’

The plateau’s significance is not just environmental. A draw for eco-tourists and an inexhaustible treasury for archeologists, the Altai Mountains in general and Ukok in particular are sacred places for indigenous people.

“After the construction, its sacredness will be out of the question,” said Urmat Knyazev, a deputy in the Altai republic’s legislative assembly. “It is moral violence against people.”

The campaign against the pipeline had received support from U.S. ecologists, but this was curtailed after local activists were controversially accused of having links to the CIA and plotting to undermine the Russian economy.

Akai Kanyev, the leader of Belaya Vera, an Altai cultural revival movement, said that activists would fight to the bitter end to preserve Ukok, but that he hoped the issue could be resolved by dialogue.

The inclusion of the plateau in UNESCO’s list of endangered world heritage sites could tip the balance toward the ecologists, but it remains unclear whether even that would make Gazprom change the route.

But Bunkov, of Aton, cited the influence environmental activists had in forcing a change in the route of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline in 2006.

“The pipe was made longer as it went around [Lake] Baikal,” he said. “It is possible here, but if there is any political directive, it will be difficult to find a compromise.

“When it comes to the construction itself, the protests will register,” Bunkov said. “I don’t leave out the opportunity of different routes.”

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