About demolition intentions Moscow house Vilnius city municipality has been talking for years. After all, the house was as it was - and it is still being "decorated" with new graffiti. The municipality cannot do this due to the intentions of the Ministry of Environment to nationalize the building.
"As far as the municipality is aware, the Ministry of Environment is looking for legal options to nationalize the building. Currently, the legal framework does not allow this. So far, Vilnius city municipality has not received a legal assessment from the ministry so that this could be implemented," commented Gabrielius Grubinskas, Vilnius city municipalities Media relations specialist.
The representative of the municipality adds that the municipality does not give up its intention to demolish the houses in Moscow. This is what the Vilnius District Court has decided. Vilnius City Municipality supports this decision and takes the position that it should be implemented.
Meanwhile, while the Ministry of Environment is looking for ways to nationalize the building, the municipality cannot provide any dates when the building could be demolished, so as not to spoil the city's image.
Moscow House was supposed to be demolished by 2023. the end Then it was explained that the demolition work did not start because of the protracted public procurement.
Back in December 2016, the district court of the city of Vilnius recognized the construction permitting document issued by the Vilnius municipality in 2008 as invalid and obliged the builder, i.e. the public institution "Moskva kulturo ir verslo centras Moskvos Namai" to obtain a new permit and remodel the building in accordance with it.
If the builder did not renovate the building, the public institution was obliged to demolish it, and if it did not do so, the court allowed the Building Inspectorate to carry out the demolition work. In February 2020, the execution of the decision was extended for two years, the final deadlines for its execution came last October.
The idea of the Moscow House in Vilnius has been developed since 2004, after the then Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov's visit to Vilnius, during the celebrations of the 750th anniversary of the coronation of King Mindaugas. Then it was decided to implement a similar Vilnius house project in Moscow.
In the 2017 National Security Threats Assessment, the Department of State Security noted that the prospects of the Moscow House project in Vilnius "have relatively high symbolic and practical significance for Russia as a potential instrument of its influence, homeland policy and public diplomacy."
