| Summary/Abstract |
In early May, a week apart, Russia's Minister of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev and presidential economic advisor Sergei Glazyev spoke of exporting Russian fresh water. The minister came out with a radical proposal to export surplus water from hydroelectric power plants in the Altai region to Chinas Xinjiang via Kazakhstan. Glazyev took a more market-oriented approach. He proposed "collecting, purifying, treating and exporting fresh water." In former years, Moscow's ex-mayor Yuri Luzhkov also proposed exporting Russia's water resources, and in 2013 the Economic Development Ministry considered the idea, too. Now this idea has emerged in a different context, but its essence is the same--to get a lot of money without making much effort by selling natural resources that cost nothing to the country.
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