So, the first phenol-contaminated building in Metrogorodok has finally been demolished. A triumphant victory for the Committee for the Protection of Muscovites. And for Mitrokhin personally, who was the driving force behind this whole campaign around these buildings for two years. An even more triumphant victory for the local residents’ initiative group. They are probably the most active protesters I’ve met in all the time the Committee for the Protection of Muscovites has existed. Though that is perfectly understandable: when they simply seize a children’s playground, it’s upsetting, but you can still choose to give up the fight. But when children are getting cancer, that’s when you become active. It was the Committee for the Protection of Muscovites that first brought attention to the problem two years ago. As a matter of fact, I even became a victim of the bloody regime because of my activism: for the first rally outside City Hall, I was detained and fined 1,000 rubles (about €10–€11 today) as the organizer. But those horrifying repressions did not break us. And now, here are the results.