ST. PETERSBURG, December 10 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – The Moscow District Court of St. Petersburg has dismissed a lawsuit filed by an office of the international NGO Greenpeace Council against Nord Stream 2 AG, the United press service of St. Petersburg courts has told RAPSI.

The plaintiff has demanded to prohibit the construction of a gas pipeline on the territory of the Kurgalsky Nature Reserve in Leningrad Region.

According to Greenpeace, the gas pipeline construction on the nature reserve’s territory will result in particular in deforestation and destruction of the plant cover on the surface of the soil. The organization also claims that the construction will thus lead to red-listed animals and plants’ habitat dislocation and violation of people’s rights to favorable environment.

In 2017, the Leningrad Regional Court in St.Petersburg granted the construction of the gas pipeline on the territory of the Kurgalsky Nature Reserve, Greenpeace Russia reported on its website.

In July 2017, the regional authorities authorized pipeline construction in the nature-sanctuary. The environmental organization and residents of the Kurgalsky Peninsula challenged this decision in the court. However, their lawsuit was dismissed.

Over 38,000 Russian citizens spoke in defense of Kurgalsky Nature Reserve asking the Ministry for the Protection of the Environment and Natural Resources and Nord Stream 2 AG to abandon idea of the pipeline route’s construction through the conservation area, according to the Greenpeace statement.