[3] Kronotsky is mainly accessible only to scientists, plus approximately 3,000 tourists annually who pay a fee equivalent to US$700 to travel by helicopter for a single day's visit.

[7] Some bears have been observed to sniff the kerosene and gasoline off of discarded fuel barrels that the reserve uses to power generators and helicopters, apparently having formed an addiction.

The 6-km-long basin with approximately ninety geysers and many hot springs is situated on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, predominantly on the left bank of the ever-deepening Geysernaya River.

Within the valley, a volcanic cone collapsed approximately 40,000 years ago, forming the Uzon Caldera, which continues to steam in places where magma can heat groundwater to a near-boil.

[3] Today's territory of the reserve has had the status of farmland for many years; in the 1960s and 1970s, it was home to settlements and military units, oil exploration was underway, and a hydroelectric power plant was being designed.

On the basis of Drozd and Ilyin's testimony, the Investigative Committee of Kamchatka initiated a criminal case against four employees of the reserve: Director of Science and Tourism Roman Korchigin, Head of the Scientific Department Darya Panicheva, Deputy Director for Financial Support Oksana Terekhova, and Deputy General Affairs Officer Nikolai Pozdnyakov.

[18] The fact that 243 kilometers of the park's shoreline were cleared of litter, removing more than 1,300 tonnes of solid waste and over 5,000 barrels of fuel and lubricants, was documented by a vast array of photos and videos, numerous reports broadcast on federal channels, many of them with the involvement of regional officials.

[21] Their defense was also voiced by Vsevolod Stepanitsky, Distinguished Ecologist of the Russian Federation,[22] Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Kamchatka Krai Alexei Kumarkov,[12] head of “RussiaDiscovery” Vadim Mamontov,[23] and many others.

The project to build an artificial fish passage between the lake and the Pacific Ocean is owned by Gleb Frank's Russian Fisheries Company, son-in-law of businessman Gennady Timchenko.

The expertise showed that there were no rubbish dumps on the territory of the reserve, but there was visible evidence of work to move the waste to removal points.

[29] Staff shortages due to the criminal case have led to the suspension of research and excursion activities in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and the South Kamchatka Federal Wildlife Refuge.

Defense lawyer Irina Diachenko and former Kronotsky director Peter Shpilenok called this an important step towards restoring justice.