"United Russia" appropriated the initiative of the residents of the Syktyvdinsky district and Syktyvkar to protect the forest in the villages of Yazel and Pychim. Local environmental activists told about this in their group on VKontakte.

They collected signatures against deforestation for sand pits. On July 12, representatives of United Russia came to the meeting place and also started collecting signatures. Activists called their act a provocation.

On July 13, the official group of the Komi Republic on VKontakte published a video about how "United Russia stood up for forests." It states that the deputies and social activists began collecting signatures at the request of the residents of Yazel, Pychim and Kochchoyag.

At the same time, the head of the Syktyvdinsky district, a member of United Russia, Lyubov Doronina, only on June 30 held a meeting with local residents, during which she spoke about the need to cut down forests for sand pits:

Do we need roads? Kindergartens? Schools? And this is building sand. This is the subsoil, which can be disposed of by the authorized body of power.”

Residents of the Syktyvdinsky district and nearby villages have been protesting against deforestation for sand pits since 2021. In a letter addressed to the head of the region, Vladimir Uiba, they pointed out that due to logging, they may lose the opportunity to pick berries and mushrooms and places of rest. According to them, deforestation has already led to the destruction of the place for gathering wild plants and a decrease in the water level in the wells of Pychim, Yazel and Kochchoyag.