Governor Beglov cannot fulfill his obligations under the Vienna Convention

After the experts of UNESCO and IKOMOM (the International Council for the preservation of monuments and sights) wrote in their report that the preservation of the historical center of St. Petersburg was not put on the head of the urban planning policy, and that the World Heritage Support is in unsatisfactory condition, the deputy of the Legislative Assembly Alexei Kovalev sent a request to the governor: what is being done to comply with international legislation in the field World Heritage Protection.

The answer received from Alexander Beglov states that in Russia there is still no proper legal regulation for the implementation of the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural Heritage (Vienna Convention), and that amendments to the Federal Law "On History and Culture Monuments) of the Peoples of the Russian Federation" have not yet been adopted, therefore, "the execution by the bodies of the St. Petersburg Convention ... is not possible."

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Alexey Kovalev is not satisfied with such a answer, he is sure that to protect the historical heritage of the city, it is quite possible to make the necessary changes to local legislation - the same rules for land use and development: to reduce the height of the buildings, increase the volumes of green spaces, make a number of urban territories inviolable. There are no problems with amendments to the law on the protection zones of the heritage. Kovalev considers Beglov’s response an attempt to substantiate his inaction, since there are no special changes to the federal law to fulfill the Vienna Convention, it is only necessary to ensure that urban planning decisions do not contradict the tasks of protecting the monuments.

According to the deputy, the city authorities frankly do not want to engage in the protection of cultural heritage, because they have more expensive the interests of developers. The deputy recalls that because of this many of the most valuable monuments suffer-for example, such as the stable department in the very center of the city, the Chesmensky Palace, the Pulkovo Observatory and many others. According to the deputy, in the footsteps of Beglov’s response, appeals to the federal authorities have already been sent to the government and the presidential administration.