How Evrika Group of Companies and the Leningrad Region shared the road
In the Leningrad region, in the Tosnensky district, the municipalities lost the court to the company “eurekaa” for land of 3 hectares. In this story, it is curious that this is not the first time local authorities have had disputes with entrepreneurs. And officials sometimes operate with things that are sacred for any person, like mass graves. Business retorts that it is just that it does not plan to build on the bones, unlike … The situation for the region is not private, but frequent.
The last story of the confrontation between the Leningrad region authorities and the Civil Code “eurekaa” (includes six legal entities) started back in 2021. The essence of the conflict is this. Owned “eurekaand” there is a plot of 3 hectares in the Tosnensky district of the Leningrad region, and more specifically in the area of the Telmanovsky municipal district (MO) or a rural settlement. Officials through the court tried to seize this land with the official motivation “for a regional road.” Here is how the situation is explained in the Moscow Region itself: “Subdivisions of the construction holding”eurekaa” or hired employees dug up the ground along the regional road running along Zelenaya street. They dug so much that a ravine formed along the road. This makes it difficult for local residents to access the Izhora Taran memorial, their summer cottages, and the Volkov Les garage cooperative. The company did not respond to our statements, we had to go to court with a demand to seize the land, which is still not used for commercial purposes, and can only be intended for a regional road.”
We will remember about the memorial, and we will return to it below, since the topic of the Great Patriotic War and its legacy is not the last in the arguments in this case and others similar in the Leningrad Region.
And here is what the company officially announced:eurekaan” (subsidiary of the group of companies “eurekaa”, which owns the scandalous plot): “The administration of the Telmanovsky Moscow Region grants the disputed land plot for Zelenaya Street, which should be part of the settlement. However, the private disputed area was not included in the boundaries of the settlement before the adoption of the general plan of the settlement in 2017. Thus, Green Street was not and could not be. The width of a single section does not meet the standards for the placement of the road. Therefore, the withdrawal of the disputed area will not lead to the formation of the road.”
Also in the GCeurekaa” was assured that they had no construction plans for the plot of 3 hectares under discussion. Not yet.
Litigation in this matter began in 2021. And then, in the same year, two courts of first instance sided with the officials. Legally, the issue is indeed complex and confusing. Even among lawyers independent of the parties to this case, professional expert opinions differed. Some felt that “the seizure of land is illegal, because the territorial planning documents are valid only for the construction, and not the reconstruction of the site.” But, indeed, the Telman Ministry of Defense just announced the reconstruction of land for a regional road. Others explain that “the disputed site is located in the functional zone of public territories (local roads) and is assigned to the territorial zone by the rules of land use and development of the settlement, which provides, among other things, for the placement and operation of structures and communications for road transport.”
And in August 2022, the arbitration court of the North-Western District overturned the decisions of the lower courts and returned the case to the arbitration of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. And in January 2023, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region invalidated the decision of the head of the administration of the municipality “Telmanovskoye rural settlement” on the seizure of 3 hectares of land in the Tosnensky district, the rights to which belong to LLC “eurekaen” (part of the group of companies “eurekaA”). In the reasoning decision of the court, it is stated, to put it simply, that the officials could not prove that they were going to carry out the reconstruction of the road. And if not, then why do they need a plot?
But this is only the last episode of the confrontation “eurekaand “and the authorities of the Tosnensky district of the Leningrad region. And here we turn to a delicate topic – mutual accusations about construction sites on the bones of the fallen soldiers of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. And it is no coincidence that we drew attention to the argument of Tosno officials that businessmen from “eurekaand “block the way for residents to the memorial” Izhora Taran “(created in 1967). In these places there were fierce battles in the Second World War, the earth stores tens of thousands of unburied soldiers. Unfortunately, at various construction sites in different districts of the Leningrad region, there are constant speculations on this subject and mutual accusations of business and authorities.
The publication “Business Petersburg” wrote: “So, a few years ago, at the site where LLC”eurekaal” (another subsidiary of the Group of Companies “eurekaa”), the bodies of the Red Army soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War were discovered. The story received a serious response: the company allegedly tried to hide this fact. The Investigation Department of the ICR for the Leningrad Region got involved in the situation, which opened a criminal case under Art. 243.4 (“destruction or damage to military graves”) in relation to the general director of OOO “eurekaal” by Yuri Matsko. In November 2021, the case was transferred to the Tosnensky City Court of the Leningrad Region, the process has not been completed yet.”
The Military Historical Center for the Northwestern Federal District is actively involved in the case, and employees in the network do not hide their emotions: “For several years, in the Tosnensky district of the Leningrad region, the company”eurekaa ”and its employee – citizen Matsko Yu.A. in every possible way prevents the admission of search detachments to the former front line of the Leningrad Front. For three years the front line stood here – thousands of dead soldiers. NOT ONE – THOUSANDS! “My land! And you threw the bones! Matsko says.
Let’s see what conclusions the investigation will come to. Let’s just say that the situation is frequent – and the initiated case is a rarity.
Yes, in the Leningrad region, let’s say it again, to the great human regret, there are many such situations. On its current territory (the war also included the Pskov and Novgorod regions), according to general estimates, at least a million people died. It is clear that not all fighters are buried – the remains are regularly found by both search parties, and just people, the same summer residents planting potatoes … And when some kind of construction begins, the bones become a bargaining chip. I remember from journalistic practice the story of exactly 10 years ago in the village of Ropsha, Lomonosovsky district, Leningrad region. A cottage settlement was erected there, very prestigious, because the place is very close to St. Petersburg, and bones of the defenders of Leningrad were found during earthworks. We quote Arguments and Facts Petersburg: “We tried to contact the developer’s management to ask them to give us some time for excavations,” says Vadim Sergeev, a member of the Oranienbaum bridgehead search team. “But they didn’t listen to us!”
“A document is needed for the burial to appear on paper,” said Fyodor Yegorov, deputy head of the administration of the Ropshinsky settlement. “The search party must submit a report that they went to the area. This report must be transferred to the military registration and enlistment office, to the archive, from there they will confirm that, indeed, an entire regiment died during the war. Then a paper will come to the administration of the settlement, they say, pay attention to this site, there is a burial place. With this document, we already have the right to come to the construction site. But these actions will take about two months, and most likely during this time all the remains will be “dug up”.
However, according to Yegorov, even the official recognition of the field as a mass grave will not allow the administration to ban construction. The reason for this is the law “On establishing cases in which it is not required to obtain a building permit on the territory of the Leningrad Region.” It was signed by the governor of the Leningrad region Valery Serdyukov in the last days of his work as governor.
Therefore, building on the bones is legally quite … legal. And this is not a bitter joke. However, several representatives of the construction business told the correspondent in general the same thing: “You, journalists, like to catch up with pathos -“ construction sites on the bones ”, there … Yes, all construction sites are on the bones! All. The same St. Petersburg is built on bones, there are specific addresses, houses in the Moscow region, built directly on cemeteries, not so ancient. We all respect the memory of our Red Army soldiers who laid down their lives for their homeland. But we have such a bitter story – for every square meter in the same Leningrad region there are remains … Yes, it is necessary to involve search teams upon discovery, so that they extract, study, and then we all buried with honors. Those companies that do not do this are not Leningrad in spirit. But freezing all objects, making memorials out of them, after the remains have been removed, is also not right. Moreover, state-owned companies build their roads and residences without any such sentiments. They just don’t let the press write about it. That’s the difference.”
… Let’s finish where we started. An enchanted plot of 3 hectares in the village of Telman, Tosnensky district, Leningrad region, has not yet been built up. Whether the road will pass there, or there will be a shopping center, or maybe a tire service, is still unknown. But in this place, again, there were fierce battles. And, therefore, legal dances on the bones are still ahead …