"Zadorozhniki" vs. "Protesters": Defenders of the Losiny Ostrov National Park met with officials.
As a subscriber reports NotMoscowOn the evening of July 10, employees of the Moscow Region administration Queen organized a meeting with residents to discuss the construction of a road through the Losiny Ostrov National Park.
“You had to register for this meeting in advance, so not all the defenders got in,” emphasized a subscriber of "NeMoskva." There were also a lot of "road workers"—those who support the construction. They arrived at the very beginning, in single file—as if they'd been driven in from somewhere.
The topic of the meeting was stated to be "solving transportation problems in Korolev." According to a subscriber, officials primarily gave the floor to the "road workers": they complained about hours-long traffic jams that weren't being resolved because of the "protesters."
One of the presentations was devoted to the "dangers of people and wild animals living side by side": participants were told that moose and wild boars can be aggressive or run into the road.
— Their speeches contained no specifics. Only a desire to belittle the defenders of [Losiny] Island, a subscriber to "NeMoskva" believes. Representatives from the Ministry of Transport, the Russian Federal Highway Agency, and road experts also attended the meeting. There was not a single environmentalist or national park representative present.
During the meeting, the defenders demanded that officials provide permits for the construction work, which has been ongoing for over a week. The activist also Oleg Kapusta I noticed the strange permit No. 367, which the builders are referring to and which was signed by the first deputy head of the city Sergei Ivanov.
— It gives the right to carry out excavation work, as well as the simultaneous execution of engineering surveys, the development of design and working documentation, and the conduct of major repairs, — Kapusta explained and turned to the official. When you signed this document, did you read it? In my opinion, you're exceeding your authority, as you have no right to sign such documents.
The meeting also featured a Losiny Island defender named Irina, who suffered at the hands of construction company security guards: they left bruises on her arms during clashes 7 of July.
— We talk about roads, but we forgot about people, — she addressed the meeting participants. We must now think about ourselves: what we breathe, whether it is safe or unsafe to live in our city. And who can we rely on? No one can protect us.
National park advocates continue to demand that the government reverse the rezoning of the site from a recreational zone to a commercial zone, which allows for the construction of roads, parking lots, auto repair shops, gas stations, and cafes. After output to the Presidential Administration did not yield any results, people began to interfere construction equipment, for which no documents have been presented for its operation.
