Dozens of Moscow residents gathered outside the city government reception office on Tverskaya Street to submit appeals to the mayor and heads of relevant departments over urban development and environmental concerns, a correspondent for Novaya Gazeta Europe reported.
The action had been scheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., but participants learned the day before that written appeals could only be submitted until 5:00 p.m.; after that, only in-person reception was available. Activists handed out prepared appeals on site, which people could sign and drop into the reception office mailbox in a neighboring building.
Near the building were a National Guard vehicle, several National Guard officers, police officers, and personnel from Center “E.” A police van was stationed at the intersection of Tverskaya Street and Strastnoy Boulevard. About an hour after the gathering began, police asked those assembled to leave the sidewalk, and only a few people remained on duty by the entrance.
Participants included residents from different parts of the capital, environmental activists, urban preservation campaigners, and members of the CPRF and Yabloko. Organizers included several local initiative groups, among them defenders of Losiny Ostrov and Krylatskiye Kholmy parks, as well as opponents of the demolition of the Elektrozavod building.
In their joint appeal, participants said they were alarmed by a decision made in late 2024, when nearly all Moscow parks and forests lost their status as specially protected natural territories and were redesignated as specially protected green territories. Activists stress that, unlike the previous status, the new designation permits construction.
They also pointed to the removal of cultural heritage status from about 1,500 buildings, including the Elektrozavod industrial complex, two 17th-century towers of the Krutitsy Metochion, the Khitrovka quarter in the Basmanny district, and Dinamo metro station. The appeal also mentioned other pressing issues, including the expansion of paid parking zones.
Participants are demanding the return of public hearings on construction and infrastructure projects, the repeal of the Moscow government decree converting protected natural territories into protected green territories, and the full restoration of heritage protections for architectural monuments. The outlet notes that activists submitted similar appeals to the presidential administration last year, but say they received only formal replies and that the authorities’ decisions remained unchanged.
“We submitted both joint appeals to the presidential administration and specific ones about our own issue. As always, the replies were just boilerplate. We are continuing to litigate and hope that at least we can influence how the construction goes so that at least part of the park is left to us,” said a member of the initiative group defending Trudovye Rezervy Park, where the Dinamo stadium is planned to be built.