In Russia's Urals region, towns that once churned out industrial chemicals and coal are now largely abandoned. Verkhnyaya Gubakha was once a thriving city of more than 30,000, but the population has dwindled, and the landscape is returning to forested taiga.
It may have seemed like the news in 2020 was all about the COVID-19 pandemic, but, in fact, there was plenty of variety. From protests and war to environmental challenges and social change, Current Time was there. How much do you know about this year’s major events?
Siberia's Evenk region is larger than any European country but it is home to only around 17,000 people. It's so vast and remote that scientists have spent decades searching and failing to find one of the largest meteorites ever to fall to Earth -- the Tunguska meteorite.
Desertification and overgrazing are threatening the Nogai steppe in the Russia's Republic of Daghestan. The way of life for the ethnic Nogai people is at risk as shifting sand dunes swallow up pastures, farmland, and even homes.
Dead fish, crabs, and even seals have been washing up on the shores of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, with locals and surfers reporting health issues.
After weeks of protests, environmental activists in Russia's central Bashkortostan region have won a battle to protect Kushtau Hill from mining. The Bashkir Soda Company had planned to mine limestone from the site. But activists say the hill is a natural treasure and home to many endangered species.
Residents of the city of Aleksandrov, north of Moscow, say they want a giant landfill site closed permanently, claiming it's a health hazard.
An acid leak from an abandoned mine has turned a local river red, devastating local flora and marine life in Russia's Ural Mountains.
A Siberian village, Tayezhnyy, was swamped with trash when Ilona Domracheva moved there. She didn't like what she saw and, in a short time, she mobilized the community to help clean up. She may have won a battle, but the war on waste goes on.
A car mechanic in Siberia has found a new calling: giving cows pedicures. And it has helped reverse a fall in milk production at a local dairy.
People around the world have learned the virtues of recycling, but a craftsman in Kyiv goes much further. He upcycles discarded furniture into musical instruments.
The Nenets call themselves "the children of the reindeer." They number fewer than 50,000. In Russia's hostile tundra conditions, their lives are much as they were hundreds of years ago.
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