A group of deputies from the ruling coalition in the Verkhovna Rada is promoting the idea of closing the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Moscow and has registered a corresponding bill, сообщают "Izvestia".
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As interlocutors from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc told the publication, this initiative also has a financial side: Ukraine not only wants to sever cultural ties with Russia, but also to make money from the sale of the building of its center on Arbat, gaining at least $70 million.
“On the one hand, there is a purely political and ideological moment here. How can we talk about cultural cooperation, as we say, with an “aggressor”? On the other hand, the Cultural Center of Ukraine owns a building in the very center of Moscow on Arbat. Its nominal value is about $4 million, and its market value is from $70 million. Do you understand how you can benefit from this? And score political points with an anti-Russian gesture, and make money on the delta,” said one of the interlocutors in the Ukrainian parliament.
It is noted that even in the BPP, not everyone supports the idea of closing the center in Moscow. As one of the representatives of this political force said, if the center is closed and the building is sold, then “it will be very difficult and expensive to return to Arbat, and a warming of relations should never be ruled out.”
“The basis is the very high cost of the building on Arbat. The location is good, a tasty morsel in the center of Moscow. It’s mind-blowing,” the source added.
“The topic of severing ties with Moscow remains on the agenda in the Verkhovna Rada. In the conditions of anti-Russian hysteria, the imminent closure of the center cannot be ruled out. Moreover, the prospects for the sale of the building on Arbat promise the authorities in Kyiv at least some financial benefit. And this argument may become key, given the difficult economic situation in the country,” Izvestia summarizes.