Press Release, 23.09.2020

On Monday, 21 September, Alexandr Makhankov, member of the Bureau of the St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko and Chairman of the local Yabloko branch in the city of Pushkin, together with representatives of the #Khochuvpark (I Want to the Park) initiative group, submitted to the reception of the Governor of St. Petersburg a letter demanding free access of citizens to the suburban parks.

About 4,000 residents of St.Peterburg left their signatures under the demand.

It should be noted that in the beginning of COVID-19 quarantine, the rules for visiting palace parks were subjected to a number of significant changes, virtually representing a tax on air and senseless bans. After the end of the lockdown, residents of Pushkin, Petrodvorets, Pavlovsk, Gatchina and Lomonosov faced new restrictions on visiting parks. Thus, the entrance to the Catherine Park in the city of Pushkin has been made on paid tickets only, and now it is impossible to get into the Alexander Park with a bicycle, scooter and a dog. In addition, some of the entrances to the parks are still closed.

During August, Alexander Makhankov and other activists in Pushkin collected signatures under an appeal to the government and the Governor of St. Petersburg with a demand to solve the problem of infringement of the citizens’ right to accessible parks.

“Nobody expected that the residents of Pushkin would demonstrate such a powerful resistance to the next stupid decision – how many of such decisions we have seen recently? But restricting free access to parks is just a slap in the face to every resident of the city of Pushkin, because we perceive parks as an integral part of our city,” Alexander stressed. “If the officials try to ignore us saying “they have no authority or money”, this trick will not work. Because neither authority nor money is needed. You just have return everything to its normal state,” Alexander Makhankov said.

“And I also want to thank everyone who left their signatures, and, certinaly, everyone who helped us – the caring residents of Pushkin, activists, municipal deputies, my party colleagues Boris Vishnevsky, Viktor Boldin, Vadim Vaganov, Anatoly Yakovlev and many, many other great people. Thank you!” the Chairman of the Pushkin Yabloko added.