On guard in the mountains: Andrey Rudomakha, chairperson of the Environmental Watch of the North Caucasus. Photo: vk.com/rudomakha This article is based on a piece originally published on BlueLink, and is republished as part of a partnership with Global Voices. It was first written in Bulgarian by Ksenia Vakhrusheva. On the evening of 28 December 2017, a group of environmentalists were attacked by three masked men on Russia's Black Sea coast. When they set out to conduct a public survey of a construction site in the region, they got into an altercation with security workers who demanded that the activists erase their photos of the site. They refused to do so. Soon after this encounter, they were approached by three masked men along their route. The men violently assaulted two members of the group and attacked the third with pepper spray. They stole equipment, cameras, computers and documents and then fled, leaving one member of the group, Andrey Rudomakha, with a concussion and a broken nose. Several days later, on 9 January 2018, Rudomakha and his colleague Dmitry Shevchenko received an email from an unknown sender, urging them to leave the country. The email alias was “Death to Rudomakha.” As of late June 2018, there has been no progress in the official police investigation of the attack, despite multiple clues as to who might have been the assailants. A photo with a threat sent anonymously to EWNC vice chair Dmitry Shevchenko. The text reads: “Henchmen of Rudomakha go out of the country. You better leave Dmitry…” The environmentalists are part of Environmental Watch of the North Caucasus (EWNC), a Russian NGO that monitors the environmental effects of construction and industrial projects in the region. While authorities have given no indication of what or whom might have motivated the attack, Rudomakha and his colleagues at EWNC are confident that the attack was a carefully planned retaliation for the group's investigation of an illegal private winery. Rudomakha’s lawyer, Alexey Avanesyan, also suspects that the attack was intended to prevent the publication of findings from the activists’ inspection. Despite the fact that the cameras were stolen during the attack, they were able to save all photos of the sites and the church. On their expedition in a state forest (public land), the activists found a winery, still under construction, and what looks like an Orthodox chapel surrounded by a massive fence. Next to the site, the activists came across illegal logging and yet another building site. The forest where these constructions are located is next to two large vineyards. EWNC’s investigation revealed that these two forest sites are in fact being rented by different companies. The first site was rented by “Perspectiva OOO” for hunting purposes. But according to the law, hunting permits do not allow for the construction of permanent buildings. The owner of “Perspectiva OOO” is Pavel Ezubov, a longtime business partner of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Ezubov is also the son of the State Duma Deputy from the Krasnodar region. Church illegally constructed in the forest in the Krasnodar region, Russia. Photo: Viktor Chirikov, Environmental Watch of the North Caucasus (2017). The second site is a 20-hectare plot and is where the aforementioned church was built. The tenant is “Axis Investments AO,” the same organisation that owns the neighbouring vineyards. The state registry lists the founder and CEO of “Axis Investments AO” as lawyer Alexey Tot. According to the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Tot is known as a business partner of Putin’s classmate, lawyer Nikolay Yegorov from St. Petersburg. Altogether, these sites have the appearance of a future private winery that one can imagine would serve high-ranking people. Immediately after the attack, a petition on Change.org was created demanding a fair investigation of what was a violent crime. By the end of January 2018, more than 120,000 people had signed the petition. Environmental and human rights organisations across Europe sent official letters with the same request to the Russian Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Security Service as well. In response to an inquiry sent by the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, the Investigation Office of the Krasnodar region answered that the investigation was being “taken under special control”. For years, EWNC has faced constant pressure from authorities and businesses for its investigations of environmental legislation violations. At the time of the attack, the organisation was embroiled in a regulatory struggle to get itself removed from Russia's so-called “foreign agents” registry. EWNC is based in Russia, employs only Russian nationals.