Triggered by debates on climate change and energy security, renewable energy sources are presently high on the political agenda in many countries. In this regard Russia seems to stand aside worldwide developments. Until recently Russia's enormous potential in renewable energy sources remained poorly utilized. However, Russia's formal commitment to the global climate change regime, its new Energy Strategy 2030, and an increase in wood pellet production suggest a discontinuity. This paper investigates and explains the (limited) progress in the solid bioenergy sector in Northwest Russia. With little Russian experience in this sector, poor technological knowledge on renewables, and inadequate domestic market structures, the development of a domestic solid bioenergy sector is far from easy. Hence, Northwest Russian wood pellet developments cannot be traced back to new federal policies, only partly to local demand and stimulation, and significantly to foreign drivers. Major EU demand for wood pellets and intensified collaboration with foreign companies and organisations leading in the field of solid bioenergy research, technology and trade have triggered these developments. But it is a long way before Russia will be released from its fossil fuel addiction, as repeatedly promised by governmental officials.

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It is widely acknowledged that Russia possesses enormous biomass resources (Hoogwijk et al., 2005). Its vast areas devoted to agricultural production and plentiful timber resources suggest good prospects for the development of liquid biofuel production. However, no significant advances in this direction have been reported till now. None of the numerous investment projects announced at the heydays of biofuel excitement in Russia (2006Russia ( -2008 are at the moment commercially operating. There are no specialised plants for the production of bioethanol and biodiesel in Russia.Little is known of the reasons for this discrepancy between biofuel potential and actual development. In investigating this discrepancy, this article analyses national developments and investigates local dynamics through a case study in the Omsk region. It is found that the reasons for this discrepancy are not related to technological incapabilities, but are to be found in the low policy and institutional priority given to non-fossil fuel exploitation and lack of market opportunities.Sprouts of second generation liquid biofuel technologies can be identified within the state system, but it remains to be seen how strong and how long these will be supported by the Russian state.

In the Russian Arctic, nature protection is important to preserve valuable ecosystems and indigenous lifestyles against the rapidly expanding oil and gas activities. In this regard, zoning legitimately balances influential stakeholders versus weak ones, and can leverage stakeholders to exercise their rights. This study explores how various stakeholders employ zoning in the Numto Nature Park in the oil-rich Russian KhantyMansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra to advance their interests and how they use scientific information to achieve this. Through stakeholder interviews, analysis of electronic media and literature review, we conclude that a participatory and sciencebased zoning exercise stimulates the necessary deliberation. However, legal ambiguity, deficient law implementation and informal practices limit the zoning's potential to balance stakeholders' interests. All the stakeholders calculatingly used scientific information to legitimize their own ambitions, activities and claims. Hence, zoning and the underlying information claims should be interpreted as both a resource and a battleground in nature-use conflicts.