World to wells, war to palaces

Rosneft asked to pass it to her long-term lease of the Ropsha palace and park ensemble near St. Petersburg. The letter with such a request was sent to President Vladimir Putin, the head of the company Igor Sechin and Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, reports Vedomosti.

The document proposes to rent a plot of land and building. According to Rosreestr, the area of ​​the park is more than 389 thousand square meters. It is planned that Rosneft will invest its own funds in the restoration of the palace. After completing the work, the company will use it "for its own needs." At the same time, Rosneft promises that the palace will be able to visit groups of tourists.

Now the complex in Ropshe is in the Office of the State Museum-Reserve "Peterhof". The museum’s budget is limited, because it cannot independently finance the reconstruction of the palace and park ensemble. In the spring, the general director of the museum-reserve Elena Kalnitskaya estimated the cost of restoring the Ropshchinsky Palace of more than five billion rubles.

According to the sources of the publication, Rosneft in the account of compensation for the restoration of the facility can receive a complex for rent for a reduced price or even for free. It is assumed that the company will use the palace will use for representative purposes, for example, for business meetings. Now Rosneft rents part of the Palace of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich Romanov in St. Petersburg near St. Petersburg.

Medinsky confirmed that the Ministry of Culture intends to transfer the palace to Rosneft for 99 years. “I hope that our appeal will be supported. This is a multi -billion dollar project, the exact cost of the restoration will depend on Rosneft. The palace will not be surrounded by a fence with barbed wire, but will be open for tourists, this is an investment of money in our historical heritage,” the minister said. “We see the task to attract business to restore cultural objects. This is just such a project.

Ropshinsky Palace-Park ensemble is located 49 kilometers from St. Petersburg. The construction of the palace began in 1725. The palace, among other things, is known for the fact that in 1762, under unknown circumstances, Peter III, the husband of Empress Catherine II, died.

The ensemble is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. During World War II, the palace was destroyed. Then the building was restored. Until the end of the 1970s, it housed a military unit. Since the 1980s, the palace has been abandoned. The building burned several times, the roof and part of the walls collapsed.

Since 2014, Rosneft has been under Western sanctions. The company in this regard demanded state support. In the fall of 2014, Rosneft requested 1.5 trillion rubles from the National Welfare Fund, without explaining what exactly. The government demanded to submit a list of projects. Rosneft has submitted a second application for four projects; Later, she added eight projects to it, and later - another 16. The total amount of the application amounted to 1.3 trillion rubles.

However, in the summer of 2016, Putin refused Rosneft to allocate funds .