Russia State Duma Seeking to Ban Exportation of Meteorite Fragments

Yes, that's right. If you want meteorites fragments, Russians are saying, wait for it to rain in your yard. "Those at Chelybinsk, well, those are ours."

Russian State Duma is looking to adding Chelybinsk meteorite fragments to the federal list of items not allowed to be exported.

It is the Duma understanding that the free proliferation of those cosmic rocks across world’s scientific community will undermine the efforts made by Russian scientists in studying them.

The State Duma in Russia is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia(parliament), the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia.

Alexei Chepa, deputy head of the Duma committee for science and technology, said that although "meteorites don't fall that often, it is nevertheless imperative to stipulate that in the [relevant] law their export abroad is prohibited." Chepa said that the Duma's committee would review legal options on either March 6 or 7.

There is currently no Russian legislation that prevents the export of meteorite fragments because the list of items of "cultural value" does not include any mention of space rocks.

According to Viktor Grokhovsky, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences' commission for meteorites, some of the fragments have already ended up abroad.He added:

"If Western scientists publish the results of the Chelyabinsk meteorite's analysis first, it will affect the prestige of Russian science."

Currently, there are fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite available for purchase on several websites for between 1,000 rubies ($33 USD) and 16,000 rubies ($522), although there have been offers made of up to $15,000 for larger pieces.

The meteorite that crashed in the Chelyabinsk region on February 15 weighted about 10,000 tons and had a 17-meter diameter. It disintegrated after entering the Earth's atmosphere and exploded just over the Chelyabinsk region. Over 1,500 people were injured from the blast, mostly due to exploding windows.