Transcript of the program from April 8, 2006 Hello, today we’ll talk about the following: Where Abai’s little piece of native land is located. Which construction site is guarded most heavily. And one hundred forty skyscrapers. It’s a good thing President Putin is especially well-disposed toward only a small number of foreign presidents. There are so many countries, after all. And practically every country has its own great poet. Last week, with great pomp and in the presence of the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan, a monument to the outstanding Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbayev was unveiled. Let us assume that to everyone who asks, “And who is that?” we will reply that they are ignoramuses, that they ought to be ashamed, and that Abai Kunanbayev does not become any less great simply because they do not know who he is. But what are we to do with the second frequently asked question: what does Abai have to do with Chistye Prudy (Clean Ponds, a historic Moscow neighborhood)? And here there is no sensible answer. Recently, the federal authorities have come up with a marvelous idea—marvelous from their point of view. To make negotiations with certain Eastern leaders easier, they generously hand them little pieces of Moscow. They like gifts. Moscow is big. Why not do people a favor? And the fact that this does not exactly comply with Moscow law is beside the point. They are the supreme authority. They know best. And so Moscow gets an Akhmad Kadyrov Street, a monument to Heydar Aliyev is planned, Abai has been installed—in short, the process is underway. We asked Moscow City Duma deputy Yevgeny Bunimovich to comment on the situation. Y. Bunimovich: Gifts—especially ones this large and serious, at the state level—we naturally accept, and it is necessary to find a place for them in Moscow. But it seems to me that, first, there is no need to rush, and second, places already steeped in the atmosphere of Moscow, such as Chistoprudny Boulevard, require, so to speak, three times the thought, perhaps even seven times the thought, before disturbing an atmosphere that is perhaps the most quintessentially Moscow in all of Moscow. Overzealous officials are in a hurry because, well, the president of Russia was there, the president of Kazakhstan was there. But one must understand clearly that the president of Kazakhstan came and went, right? Whereas the altered Chistoprudny Boulevard now remains different from the one we knew. Yes, the Kazakh embassy is nearby, but believe me, a great many things have happened on Chistoprudny Boulevard, and many great people have walked there, and many are worthy of commemoration there. This haste and desire to please are in fact reflected in the way people move farther and farther away from the authorities. It seems to me that when the installation of a monument creates a moment of confrontation, it is better to think again. If someone gave you a bronze horse for your birthday, well, of course that would be rather inconvenient—you’d have to think about where to put it. But if they also told you, “Here, I’m giving you a horse, and put it in the hallway,” that’s already too much. Let me remind you that the monument to Abai was installed in absolutely record time, and therefore the local public, which greeted the Kazakh poet with hostility, unfortunately was unable to mount the same level of activity as in the case of the attempt to install a monument to a primus stove at Patriarch’s Ponds (a famous Moscow location associated with Bulgakov). Nevertheless, several rallies did take place, hundreds of letters were written, and all the nearby buildings were plastered with protest posters. The authorities responded to the signals from outraged residents in their own peculiar way. They took note that people were against it. And they installed it anyway, but first, several hours before the ceremony, they completely sealed off the entire square, closed the exit from Turgenevskaya metro station, and did not allow even local residents onto the boulevards. The ceremony went off without a hitch. And no one interrupted President Putin’s ceremonial speech with shouts. Incidentally, the main driving force behind installing the monument specifically at Chistye Prudy was the Kazakh embassy, which is located nearby. As they put it, hinting at their extraterritorial status, “we wanted Abai to stand next to a little piece of his native land.” Very touching. As for the outrage of local residents, they explain it as the pernicious influence of nationalism. Here is what Viktor Kiyanitsa, head of the press service of the Embassy of Kazakhstan, had to say. Kiyanitsa: There were several possible locations, and in the end we came to the conclusion that the most logical and mutually acceptable would be a place at Chistye Prudy, not far from where the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan has historically been located. I still cannot understand the motives—why a monument to a poet should provoke such rejection and protest. Secondly, I have not heard a single clear argument, apart from this abstract one that it somehow does not fit into a certain historical landscape, and what else. The historical landscape is created in the course of history itself. Why do the numerous beer kiosks near the metro not bother anyone? Why do the beer bottles endlessly scattered along the entire boulevard not bother anyone? But for some reason a monument to a poet is deeply disturbing. You know what is actually most alarming? An argument that was voiced to me: “Do you realize that on the Boulevard Ring, monuments were erected to Russian poets—Pushkin, Yesenin, Griboyedov?” The emphasis was placed on the word “Russian.” And when the argument is made at that level, when you hear it not in some back alley, not on a suburban train outside Moscow, not at a gathering of skinheads—this is what I would call cultural-monumental nationalism. Indeed. There are beer stalls at Chistye Prudy. That is not very good. It is worth noting, however, that unlike a monument, stalls can be removed. But Abai is now with us forever. Generally speaking, I personally have nothing against Abai. I’m even glad about Abai. I would have been perfectly satisfied if his monument had stood, for example, on Almatinskaya Street in Moscow. Or on Kustanayskaya Street. A decent and worthy place for this monument could certainly have been found. Perhaps not even in Moscow. Why not, for example, in St. Petersburg? Though President Putin probably would not have agreed to that. He would have feared accusations that he was taking everything best to his hometown. interlude If you think the most heavily guarded construction site in Moscow is some Kremlin facility, you are mistaken. At 6 Butyrskaya Street, things are much more intense. They are building nothing more than a gas station there. True, it is not being built entirely legally. Nearby residents are категорically opposed to it and have regularly blocked all work. So now construction is proceeding under the watch of a large number of police officers. And the last time activists from the anti-gas-station movement tried to break onto the site, service dogs were set on them. Next week, residents are once again prepared to go on the offensive and have announced a protest action. Let us hope they do not forget to bring some sausage with them, so as to distract the attention of the four-legged guards. interlude Last week, Moscow’s chief architect, Alexander Kuzmin, once again unveiled plans for high-rise residential construction. According to him, in the foreseeable future Moscow will build 140 new skyscrapers. What he did not say, however, is that Russia lacks the necessary regulations for high-rise construction, and from a legal point of view even what is already being built now is not entirely lawful. The new skyscrapers will generate new conflicts at development sites, and it will not be good when local residents begin freezing such projects through the courts. Therefore, one may suppose that alongside drafting new grandiose plans, the Moscow government ought to address the legal side of the matter as well. interlude That was Alexei Navalny condemning excesses on the ground; the program was prepared with the help of Yevgenia Ten. If you have something to say to the program Urban Planning Chronicles, write to us at echo@echo.msk.ru, marked for Navalny. Until next Saturday.