The St. Petersburg governor did not sign the law equating a meeting with a deputy to a rally

Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko rejected a bill prepared by the Legislative Assembly , equating a meeting of citizens with a deputy to a rally, that is, requiring coordination of such events.

According to Fontanka , the governor proposed to amend the bill. According to the representative of the governor, Yuri Shesterikov, who made an explanation at a meeting of the Committee on Legislation of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg on February 17, Poltavchenko believes that such meetings, in which more than a hundred people participate, should be coordinated. But even uncoordinated meetings with a smaller number of participants may, in the opinion of the latter, take place not in any place, but in strictly defined places. Shesterikov noted that it is possible to “correct or supplement” the existing list of St. Petersburg “hyde parks”, the holding of events on the territory of which does not require coordination, the publication reports.

The bill was approved by the Legislative Assembly on 8 February. The reason was a meeting of opposition deputies with local residents on the Field of Mars (one of the local hyde parks), where those who gathered opposed the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church.

In December 2016, a similar law was adopted by the Moscow City Duma. to the State Duma On February 2, a bill was submitted on equating meetings with voters of deputies of any level, from local councils to the lower house of the Federal Assembly, to rallies.