To the Chairman of the 2018 Football World Cup Organizing Committee’s Supervisory Board Mr. V. Putin
To the Mayor of Moscow Mr. S. Sobyanin
On April 27th, 2016, the Organizing Committee officially decided that the only fan-zone for the “FIFA Fan Fest” in Moscow during the World Cup 2018 should be held at the Lomonosov Moscow State University campus. This zone is supposed to accommodate up to 40 000 people and will be located near the famous Main Building Tower of the university.
The decision was made without taking into consideration the opinion of the employees and the students of the university. Furthermore, this territory is under the operational control of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (LMSU), which is against FIFA’s principles for the World Cup organization as well as the FIFA World Cup 2018 Strategy in Russia.
THE FAN ZONE IS BEING BUILT RIGHT BY THE WINDOWS OF RESIDENCE HALLS
The fan-zone will create disturbance and inconvenience for 6500 students (including postgraduates) and employees of the university living in the Main Building: the noise from the event and restricted access to the building are just a few of the issues to be named.
THE FAN ZONE IS PUTTING THE EXAMS IN THE MSU AT RISK
Traditionally, exams and graduation at the university takes place in May and June. The preliminary construction works on the fan zone site as well as the start of the Fan Festival will make preparation for the exams impossible and will disrupt the whole studying process at the University.
THE CAMPUS RESTORATION THAT IS PLANNED FOR THE FAN ZONE IS ILLEGAL
To create the fan-zone the Moscow Government is planning to renovate the territory of the Lomonosov Moscow State University under the program “Moya Ulitsa” (“My Street”). This will cost approximately 2.4 billion rubles (around 41.7 million dollars). The project created by the company “Kaskad-Energo” envisages setting up a public festival space including shops, a food court and a musical fountain (the latter costing 1 billion rubles, around 17.4 million dollars).
It is prohibited under existing legislation to do any restorations on these territories, which involves the two cultural heritage sites – The Sparrow Hills Park of Lomonosov Moscow State University and The Complex of Buildings of Lomonosov Moscow State University 1949-1953, as well as the restoration of the archaeological layers in Vorobyovo Village and on the foundation site of the Christ the Saviour Church of early 19th century. This plan also contradicts the part 47.3 73-FL of the Cultural Heritage Act of the Russian Federation and puts at risk listed buildings protected under the decree #465 from June 17th, 2016, ‘On the Statement of the Security Obligations of the Proprietor or Other Lawful Owner of the Object of Cultural Heritage of Regional Significance “Park of the Lomonosov Moscow State University on Sparrow Hills” at the address: Moscow, Vorobyovy Gory’.
This project is not in the interests of the students and employees of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, since the campus is designed for academic and education processes in a first place, as well as for recreation and leisure of the students and employees of the university.
The planned festival site just in front of the Main Building of LMSU as well as the FIFA Fan Festival in the immediate vicinity of residence halls of LMSU is breaking the right for comfortable living conditions along with SanPiN 2.1.2.2645-10, SN 2.2.4/2.1.8.562-96 and p.4, subparagraph 3 of article 41 273-FL ‘On Education in the Russian Federation’ from December 29th 2012.
LMSU has previously had negative experiences of holding local and international events: International Festival “The Circle of Light” in September 2016, rally/concert “Spring” in March 2017. These events brought with them huge inconveniences such as restricted access to the residence halls along with the inflicted damage to the cultural heritage objects, university and students’ property. The restoration project has already caused a sizeable protest among the academic community and among Muscovites, since the upcoming event puts the historical appearance of the LMSU campus in jeopardy. Implementation of this so-called “development” project will inevitably cause social tensions and will have a negative impact on the attitude towards the World Cup among the general public.
Bearing all these aforementioned factors in mind, we, undergraduate and postgraduate students, professors and researchers of the Lomonosov Moscow State University along with caring inhabitants of Moscow, demand:
1) To move the FIFA Football World Cup 2018 fan-zone from the Main Building of LMSU and Sparrow Hills to the backup venue, which is located on the VDNKh territory, or to another place, which meets the specific requirements.
2) To decline the part of the “Kosygin Street Improvement” construction plan, known as the “improvement” project designed by “Kaskad-Energo” for the Lomonosov Moscow State University campus (with a price tag of 2.4 billion rubles, around 17.4 million dollars), since it is in contradiction with the existing legislation of the Russian Federation. We demand to create a separate restoration project for the campus of LMSU to save and restore parks and gardens in accordance with the original 1949-1953 plans and present this project to a public discussion.
Thank you for your consideration.
Undergraduate and postgraduate students, employees, alumni of Lomonosov Moscow State University, and caring citizens of Moscow.
June 2017
Link: http://change.org/p/savemsu