Around the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after Timiryazev flare up a scandal

In mid -October, it became known that the leadership of Timiryazevka - the main agrarian university of the country - is negotiating with the construction company "LSR Group" on the transfer of 24.78 hectares of the Land of the Academy to the developer. As part of this project, the developer can get a plot of 8 hectares for residential commercial development, in return, he must at his own expense build a student dormitories, a residential building for university staff and other buildings for the academy on 16 hectares of land. Members of the Scientific Council of Timiryazevka, who have already approved the transfer of land, call these 24 hectares ownerless and say that it is better to give part of the Academy and get something in return until the land was taken away just like that-there are 540 hectares of land in the painting district of Moscow in all in use, part of this territory was already trying to take away in 2016. Opponents of the project from among teachers and students insist that students put experiments on the construction of land, new buildings are not needed by Timiryazevka, but to its rector Vladimir Trukhachev for the sake of PR, and if at least part of the land of the academy is transferred to the developer, then the entire territory of the university will be built up by residential buildings.

The correspondent of Novye walked around the lands of the Academy and listened to the arguments of both parties.

1.

The Timiryazev Academy is located in the north of Moscow on the territory of the former noble estate Petrovsko-Razumovskoye. From the Timiryazevskaya metro station to the main building of the university - a two -story non -barrel building, erected in 1865 specifically for the first agricultural cadet - 7 minutes on the tram.

To the Dmitrovsky highway from Timiryazevka’s hand, but you can’t say that noisy Moscow is somewhere nearby-you are going from the metro on the tram along the quiet streets, and gilded trees of the endless forest experimental summer cottage of the Academy flickered in the windows-it is also called the Timiryazevsky forest park, these are members of the people's reprisal in November 1869 was killed by a student of the agricultural order Ivan Ivanov, and Dostoevsky then wrote based on this crime of his “demons”. The dendrological garden named after Schrief adjoins the forest experimental dacha, and it also floats on the left, and in the windows on the right-black-gray-green fields, only somewhere in the distance, clinging to high-rise buildings. And silence. The Academy occupies an area of ​​540 hectares (756 football fields could fit here) - in addition to ancient and not very educational buildings (almost all the styles of architecture are represented here - from classicism to Soviet modernism), laboratories, museums, meteorological observatory, equestrian arena, stadium, and the forest parkeys, and gardens (in the other hand. The Michurinsky garden, in which hundreds of varieties of cherries, cherries, cherry plums, apple trees, pears), farms and experimental fields grow, in which students, for example, study the winter hardiness of different varieties of wheat and the influence of mineral fertilizers on them. The student listened to a lecture in the audience, changed clothes and went to practice in the field, in the garden or on the farm.

After more than 150 years since the founding of the Academy, these lands, which before were not Moscow, were relative to the center of the capital-

And, it seems, no matter what highly productive varieties of wheat here they deducted and no matter what “Moscow lights” they call this territory, sooner or later pieces of Timiryazevka would still begin to squeeze pieces. Moreover, this land belongs not to the university, but by the state - at the Academy it is in use from the very moment of its founding. The state in the preservation of gardens and fields at the university is apparently not interested.

This became clear back in 2016. Then the first major scandal occurred around the lands of the Academy: the Government Commission for the development of housing construction and the effectiveness of the use of land plots, headed by the first Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, decided to transfer two pieces of lands of the Academy with an area of ​​101.58 hectares to the Fund for Assistance to the Development of Housing Construction. For residential development. The Ministry of Agriculture, in which Timiryazevka is subordinate, approved the alienation of land. The officials were not even embarrassed by the fact that the territory of the Academy in 1940 by the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, acting to this day, was declared a reserve-according to this resolution, it is forbidden to build buildings that are not related to educational and cultural and cultural needs of students and teachers on the territory of Timiryazevka.

In exchange for the university, 400 hectares in the suburbs were promised, the reconstruction of the Old Buildings of the Academy and a compensation of seven billion rubles, including the cost of 300 apartments, which the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jambulat Khautov promised to allocate for employees of the Academy in houses erected on its territory. The officials explained the alienation of the land simply: in their opinion, this 101 hectare (with a cadastral value of about 28 billion rubles) was wastelands and was not used for scientific purposes. And officials were embarrassed by the presence of “non -core objects” on the territory of the Academy - in particular, golf fields.

The alienation of the Earth caused a protest at the academy. The employees of Timiryazevka performed in the media and explained that the university was not taken away from the wasteland, but by the educational territory in which the Michurinsky garden, a field experimental station with a center of accurate agriculture, an equestrian arena with a hippodrome, an experienced house. It was also necessary to make excuses for a golf floor with an area of ​​3.5 hectares-the Academy’s staff explained that the average area of ​​a typical golf floor is 75 hectares, and specialists in the installation of herbal coatings of sports facilities are being prepared on this site, although the university sometimes rents a site for leasing to “work out the blows”. Most of the members of the scientific council of the university opposed the alienation of the Earth (despite the fact that the then rector of Timiryazevka Vyacheslav Lukomets was already preparing for the transfer of land), students, local residents. The collective letter to Vladimir Putin in defense of the Academy was written by ten former ministers of agriculture. The online patronage in support of the Academy on the website Change.org has collected more than 50 thousand signatures. Activists held a rally on the territory of the Academy against the transfer of land and eventually reached a direct line with Vladimir Putin, who stated that "Timiryazevka would be left alone." True, having made a reservation that “Moscow should develop, and housing construction should continue,” and Timiryazevka should use its resources effectively.

101 hectares remained at the university, but the Academy paid expensive for it. After the protests, the Ministry of Agriculture canceled the rector’s elections in agrarian universities, replacing them with direct appointment, and changed the charter of Timiryazevka, removing the requirement for the presence of a profile education rector. As a result, over the past five years, four rectors have changed at the university, employees of the academy complained about mass termination of contracts, a sharp reduction in salaries by 60–80% and expressed fears that the land from the university would still be taken under the pretext of “ownerlessness”, because the academy would be cleaned and careful for this land will be no one.

And on October 14, during a meeting of the Academic Council of Timiryazevka, it became known about the negotiations of the leadership of the university with the construction company "LSR Group" on the transfer of almost 25 hectares of the land of the Academy. So far, the leadership of Timiryazevka is streamlinedly calling negotiations with the developer "searching for an investor." Why is this investor needed, Radio Liberty (the publication was introduced by the Ministry of Justice in the register of media-foreign agents) was explained by the spokeswoman for the Timiryazev Academy Andrei Avkhimovich. According to him, “the university’s property complex consists mainly of objects built at the end of the XIX and early XX centuries”, which are “either extremely difficult or impossible” “to the modern requirements and installation of the latest equipment”. Timiryazevka, according to Avkhimovich, needs new buildings, and their construction does not provide for budget financing - only repair and restoration work is laid down in the budget. Therefore, the Academy decided to find an investor ready to build new buildings for the university in return for the Earth. The scientific advice approved this idea.

“I was somewhat upset that we learned about the project itself on the day when it was discussed at the scientific council, not earlier,” says Valery Koshelev, head of the department of department and rural counseling of the Timiryazev Academy. - At a meeting of the Council, two laconic men from the LSR came. It was a preliminary conversation, we did not sign any acts. As I understand it, they were sent in order to feel our attitude. In principle, all [members of the Scientific Council] supported this idea. This is that at least half of them survived the year 2016, when we defended our lands, without looking back at anyone and fighting with the Ministry of Agriculture. I was also one of the active defenders then. Now he was supporting the project - with reservations that it is necessary to solve issues with the Zabinka River, which is hidden under this land, called for potential investors for hydrological research.

In 2016, there was another situation. Then they tried to squeeze the ground with real scientific value in a bad place. This raider seizure was. And now - a normal offer, even profitable for Timiryazevka.

That piece of land [with an area of ​​24.78 hectares], which is now being discussed, is just a wasteland - I entered Timiryazevka in 1976, and there was already a wasteland there. After 2016, they tried to at least be planted-imitated violent activity to show that the earth is used. And now in this wasteland the construction of a large educational and laboratory corps, the assembly hall with 950 seats, will be built, and student dormitories will be built. The construction of a residential building is supposed - it will be official housing, mainly for young scientists. Also [planned to build] kindergarten, clinic, museum and exhibition complex. They want to concentrate all Timiryazevka museums there. This is a very decent fee. The figure was announced that this contribution to [the developer] to the university in terms of the construction and purchase of equipment will be 15 billion rubles. But no one knows how it will be in the end, of course. Because today they are talking about housing for young scientists, and tomorrow there will be other applicants.

Koshelev calls activists opposed to the transfer of land “maximalists”: “People cannot understand that when you have 540 hectares of land in Moscow and some of them are used inefficiently, be ready to give them, but try to do it for yourself with benefits. Until they just selected. If Timiryazevka begins the struggle against such a proposal, then she is simply not ready for any dialogue at all. And then you can do without it at all and take the earth. ”

The former dean of the faculty of agronomy and biotechnology, Alexander Solovyov in 2016, was one of the leaders of the group of activists who protested against the seizure of land. And then he fell under the rink of repressions: “At first I was removed from the deans, justifying it in a variety of reasons,” says Solovyov. - I received the first reprimand for squandering state property: then we distributed part of the retained potatoes from the field station to the Timiryazevka veterans. And then they created such working conditions so that I myself would leave: transferred to one tenth bets, each of my steps was fixed. It became impossible to work. ” In 2018, Solovyov was fired from the academy, but he did not delete her from his life - now, against the backdrop of a new scandal with the transfer of the land of Timiryazevka, he began to speak out in the media against the development of the territory of the Academy.

“The university leadership says that these 24 hectares are not used, that there is a wasteland and a landfill,” says Soloviev. - But it is impossible to say that this area is not involved in the scientific and educational process. Previously, a flower station was located here - it has not been functioning for the past three years, but there are also fields. Environmental experiments are underway here, there are developments for carbon training grounds - in particular, a muscantus is grown. Even this summer there were constantly students.

From this [transferred to the developer], only a quarter or even a fifth is not used. But the leadership of the Academy does nothing to be used the entire territory - it, on the contrary, creates the appearance of the rash of the plots so that the land of Timiryazevka can be sold. The same flower station was specially brought to an indecent look and is now given to the developer. There is no one to work there, there is not a single researcher. The same situation with production sites: the reduction of all researchers at the field station.

The state allocates a lot of money under the federal budget for the development of agriculture ( in 2021, 256.2 billion rubles of federal funds were allocated for the state development program of agriculture. - A. R. ). Why do you need to go through an investor who is unknown, will it invest the promised money? Why doesn't the Academy go through the Ministry of Agriculture? The academy has a lot of hostels, they need to be repaired, increased comfort. The old ones are not busy now, why are new ones needed? They promise to build both a clinic and a kindergarten, but how is this due to Timiryazevka? And this is the main danger of the transfer of land - if we allow the developer to the land of the academy, this will become a precedent, and as a result, Timiryazevka will build up the entire territory.

According to Solovyov, the plans of the Academy’s leadership to transfer the land to the developer is only “one of the examples of the extinction of Timiryazevka”: “Here is another example: the farm was closed to the Academy for repairs, the cows were sent from there in an unknown direction and there is no longer a question of their return. Flows will come for the replacement, despite the fact that any student - a livestock technician, gardener, agronomist - should study on live examples, on Earth. If you include young people with new opportunities and ideas, then you could turn Timiryazevka into a large flowering garden, into a world center of agricultural technology of the future. But instead, the academy is ending with an endless repair of facades, lay out brick paths of bright color between the buildings. ”

The teacher of Timiryazevka Nikolay ( the name was changed at the request of the hero. - A. R. ) is even more categorical. “The academic council has one single motivation to vote for the sale of land: personal interest is not eaten,” he says. - Many of them [members of the Academic Council] are temporarily acting, other deadlines for a year or two. That is, during the year, the composition of the Academic Council may be updated by people who will not protest. And there were a lot of such precedents, when teachers were dismissed without long conversations. After the arrival of Trukhachev, many departments lost more than 40% of the teaching staff - he does not stand on ceremony with those who do not agree with his politics. ”

According to Nikolai, “the development, declared in the interests of the Academy, will actually be carried out in the interests of the rector’s PR”: “This is a grandiose construction to show what he is [Trukhachev] an effective manager. Although this construction is ineffective. The Academy has a so large real estate fund that can be involved in the educational process. ”

2.

To get to these 24.78 hectares, the transfer of which the leadership of Timiryazevka is negotiating with the developer, you just need to go around one of the Academy’s repair buildings repaired and step into the field, on the one hand, bordered by the fence and tram tracks, on the other with a red -cost passage, and with the third - Michurinsky Garden. At first glance, this gigantic territory can not be called abandoned, but it does not look like a well -groomed now, in late autumn. From still green, thick grass, interspersed with dry drooping ears, somewhat like random young oaks no more than 30 centimeters high, the left of the oaks is a narrow strip of dark green fir trees, the dry branches dumped into a heap, the road is cut in the distance-if this wide strip of mud with the traces Shin. We wander around this territory along with representatives of the initiative group fighting against the transfer of land of Timiryazevka for development, by residents of the Timiryazevsky district and students of the academy. From mid -October, activists have been gathering at the metro, in coffee houses near the university and at the Academy itself, the signatures against buildings (at the time of publication of this text, more than two thousand signatures have been collected), lay down the leaflets in the educational buildings, write posts against the transfer of land in social networks and perform in the media.

Пока мы ходим по мокрой после дождя траве, я спрашиваю активистов, почему они выступают против застройки этой территории.

— Это, в общем, священное место в каком-то смысле, — отвечает на мой вопрос Дмитрий Островский, короткостриженый мужчина с бородой и в кожаной куртке, режиссер и «коренной житель Тимирязевского района в третьем поколении». В Тимирязевской академии работал его дедушка. -

Поля, которые с 1865 года являются экспериментальной площадкой, — это памятники природные и научные.

Здесь за деревьями русло реки Жабенки, — Островский показывает в сторону высоких голых деревьев, окаймляющих поле. — Она является притоком реки Лихоборки. То есть здесь верховья московских речушек. Здесь проводятся эксперименты по ландшафтному проектированию, здесь прививались растения, которые подходят для мелиорации заболоченных участков. Во-вторых, они тут понастроят — понятно, что нам [жителям района] это вид будет портить. Еще и социальную инфраструктуру застройщики всегда не дотягивают — условно, поликлиники, которые уже тут есть, будут переполнены.

— Никто не думает о том, что после строительства поменяются условия для роста уникальных сортов с вековой историей, — подключается Оксана Кистенева, «ученый-агроном», «житель Тимирязевского района и выпускница Тимирязевской академии». — Все это будет загублено. Если тут встанут дома, то растениям Мичуринского сада, прямо скажем, станет плохо. Потому что солнца не будет, ветровая нагрузка будет совершенно иная, грунтовые воды изменят свое движение.

— Мы просто понимаем, что какие-то группы застройщиков пришли в этот район, — вздыхает муж Оксаны Кистеневой Алексей Кистенев, «советский инженер, занимающийся машиностроением». — Недавно построили многоэтажный дом прямо на месте детского садика в парке «Дубки». Это был детский садик «Литературной газеты» для детей с легочными заболеваниями. Теперь собираются сносить институт печати( речь идет про Высшую школу печати и медиаиндустрии Московского политехнического университета, расположенную неподалеку от Тимирязевки. — А. Р. )и на его месте тоже строить жилой комплекс. Ладно, если бы построили храм, например, или больницу и детский сад. Для людей бы что-то построили. Есть же много промышленных площадок, есть Новая Москва. Но все хотят построить там, где уже готова инфраструктура, и не платить за нее.

У студентов Тимирязевки против застройки свои аргументы.

— От администрации [академии] поступают очень противоречивые сведения, — говорит студент академии Игорь ( имя изменено по просьбе героя. — А. Р. ), невысокий парень в очках . —Ректор [Владимир Трухачев] говорит, что Мичуринский сад трогать не будут, проректор [Елена] Хохлова говорит, что все-таки часть Мичуринского сада вырубят. При этом про коммерческую застройку ректор вообще не говорит — 18 октября он провел собрание по поводу застройки, на него был приглашен лояльный актив студентов, и ректор на этом собрании говорил только про постройку учебных корпусов и общежитий в интересах академии. Притом что сейчас у академии и так 5 общежитий, которые по разным причинам не используются. Более того, академия сдает комнаты студентам других вузов — например, студенты РГГУ по договору между вузами живут в наших общежитиях. Вместо того чтобы строить новые [общежития], в старых надо улучшать условия. Там тараканы, клопы, выбитые стекла и старые рамы, плохое отопление. Скоро зима и студенты будут опять замерзать в комнатах — электрообогревателями пользоваться запрещено. Мы считаем, что если какие-то проекты в интересах академии реализовывать, то они должны производиться за бюджетный счет. Но ни в коем случае не за счет распродажи земли академии, которая на вес золота. Застроить успеют когда угодно, но обратно здесь полей не сделать. Все-таки это главный аграрный вуз страны.

Автор благодарит Дарью Медведеву за помощь в подготовке материала.