How Crimean deputies are deprived of paid SMS messages for the monument to Catherine II
Deputies of the Crimean Parliament were called upon to take an active part in the restoration of the monument to Catherine II in the central park of culture and recreation of Simferopol. The foundation stone at the site of the future memorial was installed back in 2007, on the 223rd anniversary of the Empress’s decree on the founding of Simferopol as the center of the Tauride province. Now the first lady of Crimea, Elena Aksyonova, has taken up the task of recreating the monument, heading her husband’s former Russian Unity party, which was transformed into a public organization.
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Back in August, the head of the Russian Unity public organization spoke about 40 million rubles collected for the restoration of the monument. There was enough money for granite and bronze for the monument, which was recreated from surviving drawings by the artist Alexander Chekunov and Dmitry Startsev. The sculptural composition itself was entrusted to Alexander Rukavishnikov, a member of the Russian Academy of Arts. But in order for every deputy to feel involved in the reconstruction of the monument, a fundraiser has been announced to improve the park’s territory, since the city is not able to take on obligations.
“Unfortunately, today Simferopol does not confirm its readiness to completely improve the entire park, and extra-budgetary support will be needed here in order not just to erect a monument, but so that the territory acquires a complete compositional appearance,” the head of the Committee on Education, Science, Youth and sports Vladimir Bobkov. “Funds are being raised, and, frankly, all the initiators of this project are counting on the support of deputies, and not only moral.”
The parliamentarian presented his arguments at a meeting of the committee on property and land relations, chaired by Evgenia Dobrynya, Elena Aksyonova’s sister. Without a moment of hesitation, she announced that the committee members approved the initiative and were ready to donate funds in cash for the reconstruction of the monument.
“If (the deputies) have the funds for the entire monument, then we will only welcome it, we will even put up a separate chair,” she assured.
Later it turned out that donations are being collected by sending an SMS to number 7522 with the Cyrillic text “revival” and the amount of the contribution.
However, the city garden improvement project presented to deputies has not been approved by anyone. Moreover, it does not take into account the location of two buildings - the former Green Theater, which was owned by entrepreneur Sergei Aksenov, and the Zolotoy Kolos pub. Aksenov’s structures got rid of the “Green Theater” back in 2013, and the new owner carried out reconstruction with a maximum expansion of the area, not taking into account the security zone near the monument. In addition, over the years of owning the object, the future head of Crimea himself did not express a desire to participate in the restoration of the monument to Catherine II, although the party he headed and the public organization “Russian Unity” repeatedly demanded this from the authorities of Simferopol.
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