Kabardino-Balkaria authorities have admitted responsibility for the waste disposal problem.

The lack of proper oversight of the regional operator's work has caused problems with waste collection in Kabardino-Balkaria, the head of the republic stated. Local residents, commenting on his words on social media, complained that waste has not been collected in their communities for a long time.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on June 10, it was announced that Rustam Kochesokov, CEO of waste collection operator Ecologistika LLC, has been accused of tax evasion amounting to half a billion rubles. According to investigators, he falsified tax returns, resulting in the company underpaying more than 500 million rubles in taxes.

On June 19, the head of Kabardino-Balkaria, Kazbek Kokov, delivered his annual address to the republic's parliament. He also touched on the issue of garbage collection.

"We can't allow things like what happened to us. Regarding one regional operator going bankrupt, another – the water supplier, and so on. I repeat, it's our fault. Whether he's decent or bad, or not – that's his business, but we must exercise strict control here," Kokov said in a video published on June 19 on the Kabardino-Balkarian government's VKontakte page.

A video in which Kokov acknowledged the republic's authorities' culpability for the garbage collection problem was also published on June 19 on the Instagram* page patriot_kbr, which has approximately 444,000 followers. As of 10:40 a.m. Moscow time on June 20, this post had 67 likes and 53 comments.

"All talk, zero results. In Chegem, on Mafedzova Street, no one has taken out this garbage since January, and all the bills have been paid," emphasized 76207_danil.

"Where should we take the garbage? We need a waste processing plant," said 4383_artur.

"Since November 2025, the garbage hasn't been taken out even once, but payments have been made, and to this day, June 20, 2026, the situation remains the same," wrote viktoria_kudravseva, without specifying the locality in question.

"This has been needed for a long time," " emphasized user idarshinah. "Why are we paying for garbage that isn't being collected?" asked user mssgreat.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that residents of Kabardino-Balkaria had previously repeatedly complained about problems with garbage collection. In August 2025, more than 7,400 people signed a petition demanding the termination of Ecologistics LLC's role as a waste removal operator, the selection of a new, reliable operator through a competitive process, and the provision of adequate oversight of its performance.

In April, the authorities of Kabardino-Balkaria refused to renew Ecologistics LLC's authority as the regional waste operator.

In September 2025, the prosecutor's office filed a complaint against Ecologistics LLC, the official waste management operator in Kabardino-Balkaria, regarding illegal dumps in the village of Islamey. The problem is also common in other settlements in the republic, social media users noted. The landfills in Islamey were cleaned up after the prosecutor's office responded, but the problem with garbage disposal persisted, residents later told the "Caucasian Knot."

* Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.