Press Release, 30.01.2015

February 1 YABLOKO will conduct a rally for resignation of Marat Kusnullin, Vice Mayor of Moscow for Urban Development and Historical Heritage. The rally will be held within the campaign for the resignation of Deputy Mayor. The action will take part in the centre of Moscow, in Novopushkinskiy garden at 14:00.

The campaign for the resignation of the official began on January 22. Pickets as part of the campaign were held pickets in front of the office of the Moscow Government and by metro station Novokuznetskaya (which is close to the historical buildings that are being demolished). In addition, collection of signatures for the resignation of Khusnullin was organized in the Internet. At the moment, the petition has been signed by nearly 5,000 people.

Marat Khusnullin has been in office since 2010. In this period Moscow lost many historical buildings of irreplaceable cultural value – about 40 historical monuments were ruthlessly destroyed, including the the mansion of Prince Volkonsky (who became one of the key protagonists of the War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy) at Vozdvizhenka 9.

The recent egregious case is demolition of the complex of tenement houses of merchant Privalov (at Sadovnicheskaya 9) authorized by Khusnullin.

Privalov’s tenement houses represent a unique ensemble, which gives an idea of the evolution of works by architect Ernst-Richard Nirnzee, famous for his Art Nouveau buildings. In addition, these buildings are closely connected with the history of Russian literature, in particular many poets of the Silver Age, including Sergei Yesenin. Publishing house Mlechniy Put (Milky Way) which published the first poems by Yesenin was located in one of the buildings in 1913-1916.

The decision on demolishing was adopted despite the protests of Muscovites, historians and architects. Also the buildings were identified as cultural heritage and were protected by the state.

The public was not allowed to discuss the issue at a meeting of the Commission on Urban Development and Hitorical Heritage headed by Khusnullin.

The rally of February 1 will adopt a resolution. After the action, activists will lay flowers to the monument Sergei Yesenin at Tversky Boulevard and recite Yesenin’s poems.