Vladimir Putin has always focused on environmental and nature conservation issues. Specifically, a Presidential Executive Order declared 2017 the Year of the Environment. Each Russian city will participate, with consideration for local specifics.
Earth Hour is an annual international environmental campaign organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to raise awareness of climate change. People around the world simultaneously turn off the lights, electric appliances and facade lighting on iconic buildings, for one hour.
Earth Hour is the most widespread campaign in the history of humankind. Last year, over 2 billion people from 178 countries took part in the event, including 22 million Russians.
Russia has participated in Earth Hour since 2009. In 2013, the Moscow Kremlin joined the campaign, in line with Vladimir Putin’s decision.
The lighting of administrative buildings will also be turned off in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Vladivostok, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Saratov, Murmansk, Krasnodar, St Petersburg and Kaliningrad.