Draft law with heavy karma: Moscow City Duma does not protect the historical center of the capital

What is actually happening with the center of the capital at the legislative level?

Irina Mishina

The first meeting of the autumn session of the Moscow City Duma will be held on September 21st. As it became known, at the next meetings, the deputies intend to consider the draft budget of the capital, amendments to the Charter of the city of Moscow, anti-crisis support for the economy and the patriotic agenda. The historical appearance of the city of deputies is not yet worried.

Moscow did not receive the status of a historical settlement within the boundaries of the Kamer-Kollezhsky Val several times in a row. This bill has heavy karma.

For the first time, this bill, designed to protect the historical center of the capital from development, was introduced by deputy Elena Shuvalova during the last convocation of the Moscow City Duma. “I introduced this bill by analogy with St. Petersburg, where a similar law is in force in order to somehow stop the thoughtless development of the historical center. The bill in the Moscow City Duma did not pass due to the fact that the deputies from United Russia for some unknown reason left the hall during the voting. This is not surprising, given the influence of the construction and transport lobby in the capital. And the building of the historical center is happening before our eyes. Now, for example, in Zamoskvorechye the area around the Tretyakov Gallery is being built up, elite houses are being built there, ” Elena Shuvalova, deputy of the Moscow City Duma, member of the commission on culture of the Moscow State Duma, told NI.

After that, on November 10, 2021, a bill on recognizing the center of Moscow as a historical settlement within the boundaries of the Kamer-Kollezhsky Val was introduced by the Moscow City Duma deputy Sergei Mitrokhin. And the voting went according to the previous scenario. During it, the deputies of "United Russia" mysteriously disappeared en masse from the hall. “The voting results are as follows: 18 votes in favor, 1 against, 3 abstained, 23 did not vote. That is, United Russia deputies systematically disrupt the vote on this bill. But I submitted this legislative initiative at the federal level, to the State Duma. As far as I know, it is under consideration in one of the parliamentary factions. Now I have taken another approach: I submitted to the Moscow City Duma a draft law on amendments and additions to the Law on the Protection and Use of Immovable Monuments of History and Culture of Moscow. It is designed to save the Nemetskaya Sloboda in the Basmanny District, to prevent the destruction of this historical corner of the capital, which is being systematically built up by the neighboring Moscow State Technical University. Bauman, ” Moscow City Duma deputy Sergei Mitrokhin told NI.