Evangelists will peacefully register their palace

As Kommersant learned, the Perm Diocesan Administration of Christians of the Evangelical Faith and JSC Motovilikha Plants are planning to conclude a settlement agreement, as a result of which the evangelists will register ownership of the Palace of Culture named after. Lenin. They bought the building from the machine holding back in April 2005, but the registration of rights to it was suspended at the request of the regional authorities, who planned to buy the palace from the evangelists, but never resolved the issue. The regional administration says that the settlement agreement will be a violation of all the commitments made by the evangelists. The authorities intend to convince them to abandon the claim altogether. As Eduard Grabovenko, Deputy Bishop of Russia for the Volga Federal District of the Church of Christians of the Evangelical Faith, told Kommersant, they plan to conclude a settlement agreement with Motovilikha Plants OJSC (MZ) and thus register ownership of the Palace of Culture named after. Lenin. In November last year, the diocesan administration appealed to the Arbitration Court of the Perm Region demanding that the Ministry of Health provide all the necessary documents to register ownership of the building. Without this, evangelists say they cannot invest in renovating the building.
The Lenin Palace of Culture, which has a hall with 900 seats and an area of approximately 5 thousand square meters. m (built in the 50s of the last century) was sold to MZ in April last year. The Perm Diocesan Administration of Christians of the Evangelical Faith bought the building for 50 million rubles. However, then the administration of the Kama region wanted to buy the palace, which promised to find the evangelists a building plot or a finished building in exchange for the cultural center. At the request of officials, registration of ownership of the recreation center was suspended. Since last summer, the regional administration has offered the evangelists about a dozen plots and buildings. However, they were not satisfied with them (in terms of area, distance from the city and the presence of various encumbrances). When the diocesan administration went to court in the fall to register ownership, regional authorities accused the evangelists of violating their obligations. And they said that the regional administration was offering obviously unsuccessful plots in exchange for the recreation center.
As Eduard Grabovenko explained, the court suggested that the parties conclude a settlement agreement at the first meeting. The evangelists agreed to take this option. According to Mr. Grabovenko, they have already written a draft agreement and sent it to the Ministry of Health. According to the document, both parties acknowledge that they have fulfilled all the conditions of the purchase and sale agreement, and the owner of the recreation center registers ownership. Evangelists are confident that a world war will take place. The issue will be resolved within 5 days. “Our specialists are studying the terms of the settlement agreement. If it is acceptable and does not entail significant costs, we will go for it,” Igor Vagan, director of the Ministry of Health for external relations, told Kommersant.
Regional authorities reacted extremely negatively to these plans. The administration still believes that a cultural object should not be used as a religious building. “Legally, they have grounds to register ownership, but in doing so they will disregard public opinion. We want to draw public attention to the fact that the evangelists broke their promises,” said the region’s vice-governor Vladimir Lobanov. He also told Kommersant that the regional authorities will seek to ensure that the evangelists abandon their claim altogether. “How to achieve? Only by persuasion,” said Mr. Lobanov. According to Kommersant's information, a settlement agreement will nevertheless be concluded. Kommersant's sources familiar with the situation believe that the company has no real reason to continue delaying the deal without registering it.
ANASTASIA KOSTINA

Kommersant (Perm) No. 15 from 01/28/2006

I have the right of ownership