Ecological movements had been lobbying the government to move the original route of the $11.5 billion East Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline away from the shore of Lake Baikal, on the Unesco World Heritage List, over fears that an accident could do irreparable damage.
Alexei Yablokov, the leader of the Green Party of Russia, called the move "a great victory for public pressure."
"This is the correct decision," he said. "It will save Baikal."
Environmentalists conducted a vigorous campaign against the original route, which would have passed just 800 meters from Baikal's shore, including through a March 19 demonstration of about 5,000 protestors in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
Polina Malysheva, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace Russia, also welcomed the decision, but voiced fears the plans for the pipeline - slated to transit 1.6 million of barrels of crude a day to energy-hungry China and Asia - would be difficult to implement due to the new area's difficult terrain.
Yevgeny Schwartz, head of conservation programs with the World Wildlife Fund in Russia, said the decision could become a "turning point" in the country's development, as otherwise the pipeline would have signified that Russia could follow Nigeria's path, when state monopolies are more important than legal and parliamentary opinions.
Pipeline monopoly Transneft said Wednesday that construction could start as early as the end of this week. The first stage is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008.
