Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday he had talked to the company planning to build a church in Russia's fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg after some of the city's residents protested the project and demanded that the site remain a park
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2019) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday he had talked to the company planning to build a church in Russia's fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg after some of the city's residents protested the project and demanded that the site remain a park.
"There is a lot of false information out there. I have talked to the developer company, the planned developer," Peskov told reporters.
The suggestions that the church would be part of a larger project with more buildings are not true, the Kremlin spokesman added.
Peskov stressed that "this garden, this park" would be kept in order.
"The concerns that there will be no park, they are being taken into consideration. So, it is important here to look at all the aspects of what is happening," the presidential spokesman said.
When asked on Wednesday how the Kremlin thought the problem should be resolved, Peskov remarked that such situations were for the regional authorities to handle.
Meanwhile, Russian High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova has requested access to building plans to ensure that the church would be in line with the architectural spirit of the city center.
"According to the explanations that I received from [regional commissioner] Tatiana Georgievna [Merzlyakova], from the developers and the Russian Orthodox Church, this will not destroy the park, but actually improve it. To make sure that it is true, I have requested the building blueprints, plans," Moskalkova told Sputnik.
Since Monday, several protests have been held against the new church and in favor of keeping the park. The governor of the region, Yevgeny Kuivashev, has called on both sides to engage in dialogue. At the same time, after talks with those for and against the church, the authorities said that the construction would continue.
