Press Release, 8.07.2026

Photo: Elektrozavod / Photo by Angelika Zhukova, Yandex.Panoramas

Moscow Yabloko’s office has begun collecting signatures calling for the Elektrozavod complex (Moscow’s historic Electric Factory complex built in the 1910s–1920s) to be recognised as of historical value and granted state protection. Following a change in the law in 2025 (the Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites), more than 1,500 Moscow monuments dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries lost their protected status. As a result, the Elektrozavod now faces the threat of demolition, which Yabloko activists, together with Moscow residents, are now trying to prevent.

From 7 July, between 11am and 6pm daily, anyone may come and sign in support of preserving the Elektrozavod complex, Moscow Yabloko said in a statement.

The regional branch’s Bureau had previously stated that the demolition of the Elektrozavod, one of the few large-scale monuments of early 20th-century brick industrial architecture to have survived in Moscow, could not be allowed to go ahead:

“The Gothic architecture, the expressive arches and the distinctive silhouette form not merely the façade of a city block but part of the city’s historical memory. The absence of protected status does not mean an absence of value: the strength and structural integrity of the building are confirmed both visually and by specialist studies already carried out by the developer. We call on the city authorities and the developer to abandon the practices of quiet demolition and the replacement of authentic architecture with a surrogate. The Elektrozavod must not become yet another example of this practice.”

Moscow Yabloko also stressed that heritage campaigners have for two years been pursuing legal action against the Moscow City Duma and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, seeking to have Clause 3 of Article 17 of Moscow City Law No. 24 “On Cultural Heritage Sites…” declared invalid. This provision allows a monument to be stripped of its protected status without a historical and cultural expert assessment being carried out, in contravention of Federal Law No. 73.

Signatures for Moscow Yabloko’s appeal to preserve the Elektrozavod complex can be added at the party’s office in Moscow at 31/2 Pyatnitskaya Street, daily from 11 am to 6 pm.