Foreign experts were accepted in Russia without problems

The 36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, held for the first time under the chairmanship of Russia, ended in St. Petersburg. The organizers of the forum managed to remove from discussion all the pressing issues of preserving the historical center of St. Petersburg, and international experts refused to include the new nomination “Kremlins of Russia” in the prestigious UNESCO list, not to mention the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the non-existent bridge over the Yenisei.

Due to the change of power in St. Petersburg and the liquidation of Rosokhrankultura, Russia again did not comply with repeated UNESCO resolutions regarding our country’s non-compliance with international obligations. In particular, a federal structure for managing World Heritage sites and a legal framework for its activities have still not been created. It was expected that it was in St. Petersburg that UNESCO representatives would be able to complete the five-year discussion on the revision of the boundaries and criteria for the “universal world value” of the largest site on the World Heritage List - “the historical center of St. Petersburg and the associated group of monuments.” However, the Russian Federation’s report on the implementation of UNESCO’s recommendations was not ready: its consideration was postponed from 2012 to 2014.

Urban defenders hoped that UNESCO experts would assess the condition of St. Petersburg on the spot and publicly express their opinion. For example, about the results of the restoration of the Summer Garden, the 500-meter height approved by Smolny for the Gazprom Lakhta Center project, as well as new large-scale plans for the reconstruction of the historical quarters of St. Petersburg worth 300 billion rubles. (including about the competitive project for the construction of an underground parking lot under the Champs of Mars presented at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum). The session also planned to consider the pressing problems of three more large objects - the historical center of Yaroslavl (in connection with plans to build a bell tower above the Assumption Cathedral), as well as the wooden architecture reserve in Kizhi and the Solovetsky Islands ensemble.

In addition, the participants of the session were given statements from Arkhnadzor and representatives of the international forum of non-governmental organizations “Protection of UNESCO World Heritage Sites” that took place the day before in St. Petersburg. They asked UNESCO to “demand from the Russian side strict compliance with its obligations to preserve World Heritage sites in accordance with the convention” and to conduct an inspection of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square sites (as it turned out, UNESCO representatives know nothing about plans for the reconstruction of the 14th building in the Kremlin ), "white stone monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal", "Solovetsky Islands", "historical monuments of Novgorod and the surrounding area", "Citadel, Old Town and fortifications of Derbent".

However, as a result, the organizers of the St. Petersburg session, which was chaired by Russia for the first time, excluded even planned issues related to cultural objects from the agenda. Instead, Eleonora Mitrofanova, who heads this year’s World Heritage Committee, proposed approving as “not requiring discussion” routine conclusions that contain traditional remarks about the Russian Federation’s failure to comply with UNESCO recommendations and a call to coordinate construction plans in the territories protected by it with the committee. Discussion of endangered natural monuments - the virgin forests of Komi (where geological exploration and blasting work is being carried out) and Lake Baikal - contrary to warnings, also did not lead to harsh sanctions for including them in the list of “endangered objects”.

As Ms. Mitrofanova explained, “harsh language hurts the ears of representatives of many countries,” who believe that UNESCO cannot impose its opinion on sovereign states. According to Ms. Mitrofanova, after the St. Petersburg session the committee may adopt an amendment to its regulations, according to which “the session will not discuss issues related to its facilities on the territory of the host country.” Thus, through the efforts of Russian diplomats, the session partly confirmed the scandalous statement of Valentina Matvienko in response to criticism of the Okhta Center that the city “received nothing from UNESCO”, and this organization itself is just “a beautiful bow on the body of St. Petersburg” .

However, the Russian delegation still suffered defeat at this session. Traditionally, at its sessions, the World Heritage Committee has granted requests from the host country to expand the prestigious list of its UNESCO-protected sites. The Russian “waiting list” published by UNESCO looks rather strange: for example, it is proposed to recognize as world heritage an obvious remake - the Cathedral of Christ the Savior recreated at the end of the 20th century, as well as the railway bridge over the Yenisei, which was recently demolished. This year, the Russian authorities, despite the negative conclusions of experts, lobbied for a new “serial” nomination “Kremlins of Russia”, which proposed to include the Kremlins of Pskov, Uglich and Astrakhan. Experts warned that the Uglich Kremlin was almost completely burned by the Poles back in the 17th century, the Astrakhan Kremlin was spoiled by new buildings, and the condition of the Pskov Kremlin did not meet UNESCO criteria. The session participants rejected Russia's application.

Anna Pushkarskaya, St. Petersburg

UNESCO failed the session