Moreover, despite the optimism the activists are showing off, most of them feel that although they might have won the battle, they did not win the war yet.

While heading off for a journey along the newly-built highway connecting the country’s East and West, Vladimir Putin remarked that the new direct road between Moscow and St. Petersburg, that will put an end to lots of traffic problems, must be built anyway.

He also added that there has always been much disagreement between environmentalists and the government, so the purpose of the new public discussions is a compromise. Although environmentalists hope that this compromise will save the forest, there are actually no grounds for such assumptions.

In particular, one of the points the environmentalists are particularly angry about is the road’s width – as much as 600 meters. The normal width of a road is about 150 meters.

“The Khimki forest problem is a pure social and political issue. The government of Moscow has been pushing the project without any negotiations with local people,” Vladislav Inozemtsev, from the Institute for Post-Industrial Studies, told RT. “And this issue is not about building the road; it’s about clearing so much space. The construction can be carried out without so much destruction.”

In addition, Medvedev has just signed a decree that transfers the powers of the Forestry Agency directly to the government – and recently, lots of criticism has been leveled against the agency connected with their handling of the fire crisis.