67-year-old Perm resident Alexander Ivanov has been living in a tent beside his home for more than two weeks after he was forcibly evicted on March 11 and the building was partly demolished. His furniture, clothes, refrigerator and television remain outside with him. Ivanov says bailiffs, city officials, a local police officer and demolition workers arrived that day, cut open the door and removed his belongings even though he told them he was still awaiting decisions from various authorities and had no other place to live.
The demolition stopped after half the building was destroyed because workers discovered a boiler facility behind the house that supplies heat to several nearby residential buildings. Further work could have damaged the utility site. Ivanov’s neighbors say that for this reason the house was supposed to be demolished last, and they believe the operation instead looked like pressure on the only resident who refused to agree.
The house was declared unsafe in 2016, shortly after Ivanov had completed a major renovation of his apartment. He says that a year earlier a commission had assessed the building’s wear at 32 percent, and that the paperwork declaring it unsafe may have described a different structure. According to Ivanov and his neighbors, residents were offered compensation only for their apartments, although they believed they were also entitled to payments for land, shared property and other losses.
A year and a half ago, Ivanov became the only remaining resident. He says utilities were then cut off, and in December 2024 he learned by chance that on May 16, 2022 a court had issued a default ruling ordering his eviction. He also discovered that 1.9 million rubles had been placed with a notary as compensation. Ivanov says he would have accepted that amount in 2022, but by 2024 it was no longer enough to buy housing.
After he launched an open-ended street protest, the case drew media attention. On March 15, investigators opened a criminal case over alleged abuse of office. On March 17, a local prosecutor visited Ivanov and helped him prepare a court filing, and on March 18 the prosecutor’s office asked the court to restore the missed deadline for challenging the default judgment.
On March 20, Perm’s Ordzhonikidze District Court canceled the four-year-old default eviction ruling. The case will now be reheard, including the issue of compensation. The next hearing is scheduled for April 9. Until then, Ivanov says he will remain outside the house because he believes this is the only way to secure a fair outcome.