GUIDING LINES: Impotence of the Powers That Be
I
The owners of the buildings had secured 49-year leases on those plots. But because the law bans construction in protected areas the Ministry of Natural Resources initiated hundreds of legal cases against violators. If a court agrees that a house was built on a plot where construction is prohibited, it orders the demolition of that house.
Demolition of country houses in the settlement of Yekaterininskiye Valy near the village of Pyatnitsa in the Solnechnogorsky District of the Moscow Region (Moskovskaya Oblast) was scheduled for February 28. The writ of execution stated that 13 cottages built along the shoreline of the Istra reservoir had to be pulled down.
The owners of the doomed brick and wooden country houses, surrounded by a green fence, met Oleg Mitvol’s team with placards reading: “Mitvol is the tsunami of the 21st century”; “Yesterday they robbed us of social benefits, today they take our houses, tomorrow they will take our freedom,” and so on.
The mastermind of the campaign Oleg Mitvol, accompanied by his aides, policemen and a host of journalists, arrived at the site early in the morning. The least numerous group – about 10 people – was represented by house owners. The most active of them entered into a heated debate with Mitvol on the lawfulness of the demolition.
Other cottage owners standing in small groups several meters away from the official attracted the attention of the television cameras and tape recorders as they angrily spoke of their rights being violated by the impending reprisals.
After all, they claimed, their houses were built way back in the 1980s when the legislation which the demolition was based on had not even been drawn up. All the paperwork involving those cottages had been lawful, they said. The local offices of the Bureau of Technical Inventories (BTI) issued technical documents for the properties, and subsequently, certificates of state title registration for them.
The heated discussion ended with neither side revising its stance. Having conversed with all the interested parties Oleg Mitvol continued fielding questions in the more comfortable conditions of a small makeshift shed, away from the frosty weather.
There Mitvol said that the houses would have to be pulled down anyway as the “state is not impotent” and observes the law. He did not fail to comment on the fate of the dacha of the popular singer Alla Pugacheva. According to Mitvol, the singer had promised to move her house so that it would be situated at least 55 meters from the shoreline, as required by the current legislation.
While Mitvol answered questions in the makeshift house the other people present socialized outdoors. The police officers seemed the least interested. They smoked and talked with each other clearly not anticipating any hostilities or even a minor row.
Cameramen and photographers scurried about the area taking pictures of cottages, placards, people and the snow-covered field beyond the green fence. Some reporters talked to the angry homeowners and their lawyers. Incidentally, as their ardor waned in the cold their statements became less defiant, and they spoke more calmly.
By midday two brand new tractors, earlier parked at the side of the road, drove up to the green fence. They were followed by several buses carrying special-purpose OMON riot police. Admittedly, the security troops never left their warm buses, choosing to observe the developments from a distance. Meanwhile, Oleg Mitvol again emerged before the people. As he moved towards the tractors the crowd grew restless.
People with cameras and tape recorders, hoping that something might happen after all, followed the ministry official closely, some ran ahead of him; cameramen were sinking in the snow and climbed up the fence trying to get the best angle to capture the historic moment. Oleg Mitvol looked at the tractors, talked to the dacha owners and reporters and went back to the makeshift house.
Inside, his colleagues implored him to take some action. They complained that the dacha owners and all the others were blocking the tractors’ way to the gates. Worse still, none of the officials wanted to take responsibility and order the storming of the cottages, or at least to knock down the fence.
Having listened to their complaints Mitvol telephoned the chief bailiff. “Your staff here are standing idle and do not know what they should do,” Mitvol said. “I do not know what to do. You understand that if they don’t carry out their orders, then…” In response to the bailiff’s unheard words Mitvol said: “You do not know? Well, okay then, it’s settled.” After that Mitvol’s enthusiasm waned and he ordered his aides to summon the journalists to the entrance of the makeshift house.
He emerged before the media saying that the demolition would not take place that day. “Our task was to provide hardware and personnel,” Oleg Mitvol said in front of the cameras. “Unfortunately, we do not have the powers of the procedural police and cannot carry out the demolition. Apparently, for some reason the bailiffs have failed to do their work, although formally they were supposed to do it. The police show no support while we are here to protect the interests of the state.”
The official pledged to watch the developments closely. “I think that sooner or later we will demolish all these kinds of settlements near the Moscow Region’s water bodies,” he said optimistically. Thus, the attempt by the authorities to execute a court order ended in fiasco. It would be interesting to know how a state that has no will to stand up to a handful of its “rank-and-file” citizens manages to send disgraced tycoons to prison.