SOVIET POSITION ON THE COASTAL ENVIRONMENT 
A SURVEY OF RECENT LITERATURE 
(By Harvey R. Sherman') 
The Baltic, Black, and the Caspian Seas, and the Sea of Okhtosk, 
together with the long, remote reaches of the Arctic Ocean, constitute 
the sea coasts of the U.S.S.R., and provide its access to the world’s 
oceans. But, for practical purposes, its territorial waters can be con- 
sidered to be the littorals of those four major seas, plus the Barents 
Sea area in the Arctic. 
Its great rivers have traditionally held a prominent place in Russian 
throught; these were the principal routes of commerce, and, more 
recently, the sites of industrial expansion. The Ural and the Volga, 
which flow to the Caspian; the Don and the Dnieper, flowing to 
the Black Sea; and the Dvina, whose waters empty into the White 
Sea, are among the principal waterways serving the nation’s industry 
and commerce. They have also become focal points in the country’s 
efforts to combat pollution. By extension, that effort constitutes a 
major part of the Soviet environmental concern for its coastal areas. 
A growing literature details environmental deterioration of the 
U.S.S.R. coastal regions. Goldman cites examples of mismanagement 
that has caused serious erosion of the shores of the Black Sea and 
contributed to pollution of the Caspian.” Keith Bush states that, 
although the situation with respect to the rivers of the U.S.S.R. “has 
not reached the levels of pollution of, say, the Rhine or the Mississippi, 
the great rivers of the Soviet Union are being rapidly turned into 
sewers: for instance, it has been estimated that the Volga alone carries 
half of the country’s industrial effluents into the Caspian Sea.”’* 
There is an ‘‘upbeat” flavor to most current Soviet literature on 
the environmental condition of its rivers and coastal regions. Beyond 
a few introductory sentences adverting to an environmental problem, 
Soviet writers generally launch rather quickly into detailed description 
of current or planned programs of environmental improvement of 
conditions that sometimes have to be inferred. Not surprisingly, these 
descriptions are capped by optimistic outlooks, hortatory statements 
of purpose, and assurances of success. I. Avashko, for instance, in 
an article concerning oil on the beaches at Odessa in late 1974, 
states that, “fortunately, in our country, we almost use the past tense 
when talking about the pollution of the seas with oil products.” * 
A recent article by a member of Latvia’s Institute of Biology states 
that pollutants in the Bay of Riga “include oil, petroleum products 
' The author is a specialist in environmental policy, with the Environmental and Natural Resources 
Policy Division of the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. 
2 Goldman, Marshall. The Spoils of Progress: Environmental Pollution in the Soviet Union. Cam- 
bridge, the MIT Press, 1972. 
3 Bush, Keith. The Soviet Response to Environmental Disruption. In: Environmental Deterioration 
in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. New York, Praeger Publishers, 1974. (Ivan Volgyes, ed.) 
4]. Avashko. A tanker at the sixth berth. Rabochaya Gazetta (Kiev) Nov. 22, 1974. (Joint Publica- 
tions Research Service. No. 63865; Translations of Environmental Quality No. 74.) ...._ 
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