Environment group calls on Communist leader to probe and shame bear-hunting governor

Amid a probe into alleged illegal hunting by a Russian governor, an environmental advocacy group is calling for the leader of the official’s party to discipline the man. The governor is accused of gunning down a hibernating bear.

“The high position of the governor and friendly relations to you cannot in this case serve as a shield and an indulgence,” said an open letter sent to Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the Russian Communist Party, by the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation (VOOP).

The group called on the Communist leadership to launch its own probe into the scandal surrounding Governor Sergey Levchenko of the Irkutsk Region and discipline him as necessary.

Levchenko is currently being probed by police over leaked footage of his hunting sessions, which indicate he may have broken the law. In the videos he was apparently shown killing a hibernating bear and telling an unidentified teenage boy to kill a caged boar, which the youth did on camera. The police suspect the hunt may have been conducted out of season.

The governor denied the accusations, saying he acted lawfully. Some of his supporters said the scandal is nothing but a politically-motivated attack.

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