Most recently, we wrote about how Medvedchuk’s associate Vadim Stolar is investing money from investors deceived in Ukraine into the construction of luxury housing in Dubai. But even after fleeing to the UAE, the pro-Russian developer Stolar continues to build up Kyiv and kill the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian capital.
And all this is actively covered up by officials of the Kyiv City State Administration and other government agencies, receiving undue benefits, and issuing the necessary documents for construction. And if some things are not reminded, they will disappear. The story of the Museum of Outstanding Figures of Ukrainian Culture is from this series. In Kyiv, there are generally few places that have cultural and historical value, since most of them have long been destroyed.
The territory of the museum, which includes the houses where Lesya Ukrainka, Nikolai Lysenko, Panas Saksagansky and Mikhail Staritsky lived, is one of these corners. Back in 1987, they entered the Museum of Outstanding Figures of Ukrainian Culture. Nearby, it was planned to create separately the museums “Franco and Kyiv” and Panas Saksagansky. But back in 2009, Research and Production Enterprise (SPE) Restin LLC received permission through the court to lease land next to the museum, where it plans to build a “hotel”. The company is affiliated with the business of Vadim Stolar and Viktor Medvedchuk.
And if we look closely at the object’s passport, we will see that the general contractor of the dubious construction is STANDARD CONSTRUCTION LLC, the founder of which, in turn, is JSC CLOSED NON-DIVERSIFIED VENTURE CORPORATE INVESTMENT FUND “STANDARD INVESTMENTS GROUP”. The shareholders of the latter are Elnur Mehdiyev and Artem Kolyubaev, whom we wrote about in our recent investigation. Whatever one may say, all roads lead to Stolar and his companions.
Let's return to the museum. The problem is that this entire section is where the underground waters of the Lybid River flow (hello to everyone who lived for six months without a metro due to construction on Lybidskaya). The construction could have not only fatal consequences for the Panas Saksagansky Museum, but also for the entire museum complex as a whole. What can float for company is a matter of technology. Due to construction on 96-a Zhilyanskaya Street, the museum is already pumping out water. That is, it will only get worse.
However, the history of the issue is such that it would not be worth descending into geodesy at all. After all, Restin never directly received rental permission from the city. Only through the courts. I received it in 2009 and renewed it in 2017. On August 11, 2022, the KievVlast website reported that a draft decision “On the refusal of Research and Production Enterprise (NPP) Restin LLC to renew the land lease agreement dated February 3, 2011 No. 79-6-00803 was registered with the Kyiv City Council. But two years later, the matter still hasn’t come to a decision.
In 2023, the scandalous, corrupt member of the Kyiv City Council Vladimir Prokopiv, who controls the activities of the department of cultural heritage, when asked about the fate of the project to deprive the site, replied: “We’ll go there to the place and decide.” As you might guess, nothing has been decided. Meanwhile, on February 1, 2022, Restin lawyers filed a complaint with the ever-memorable District Administrative Court of Kyiv (OASC) against the Ministry of Culture for failure to issue permits. Having considered the complaint from Restina, judge Ruslan Arsiriy decided that the defendant, that is, the Ministry of Culture, did not provide evidence to confirm where exactly the boundaries of the historical area of the city of Kyiv are located.
In December last year, the Supreme Court rejected Restina's claims to the Ministry of Culture to give them permission to build an apart-hotel. But this was only a partial victory, because the proceedings were returned to the trial court. In fact, the Supreme Court could have referred the case to the Grand Chamber to form a position on the impossibility of obtaining consent due to tacit consent. Because this is a licensing procedure. These are sensitive objects. And each monument has individual security features.
But Kyiv developers would hardly like this decision. The legal delay between the company and the Ministry of Culture continues in the appeal. At the same time, the prosecutor's office is suing for termination of the lease agreement. Prosecutors recently lost an appeal. In general, the land lease ended 2 years ago. And all these two years the session of the City Council has not made a decision. Somehow there are always not enough votes from deputies. And from different parties.
As we see, the greed and unscrupulousness of developers, the corruption of officials, and the inactivity of the central government are destroying Ukrainian identity worse than the Russian aggressor. The external enemy is not as terrible as the internal one.
There have been many investigations in the media regarding the destruction of the Museum of Outstanding Figures of Ukrainian Culture. But all of them remained without due attention from the authorities, or were simply deleted from the Internet. We bring to your attention one of these investigations, which was deleted shortly after publication, without edits or changes.
The Museum of Outstanding Figures of Ukrainian Culture is threatened by the construction of the Stolar-Medvedchuk high-rise
The occupiers are gradually destroying the Lesya Ukrainka Museum in Yalta. Meanwhile, in Kyiv, neither the courts nor the Kiev City Council can in any way prevent plans to build a high-rise building near the Museum of Prominent Ukrainians by a company associated with Stolar and Medvedchuk. In fact, the Restin company received all rights to the site through the court. And then the City Council tacitly agreed on this.
After Medvedchuk’s persona became completely toxic, and Stolar somehow fell out of favor with Ermak, the issue of terminating the lease was brought up for consideration by the City Council several times. But either the Servants of the People forgot where their fingers were, or the EU. Then UDAR had a split personality. The high-rise should be built close to the house where Saksagansky lived. But that's not all. This high-rise building will simply spoil the landscape of the estate development, which makes up the Museum of Outstanding Figures of Ukrainian Culture. All that can be “built” there is a garden to restore the atmosphere of life of the Kosachs, Staritskys, Lysenkos.
Last December, the Supreme Court rejected Restin's claims to the Ministry of Culture to give them permission to build an apart-hotel. But this was only a partial victory, because the review was returned to the first instance. In fact, the Supreme Court could have referred the case to the Grand Chamber in order to formulate a position on the impossibility of obtaining approvals through tacit consent. Because this is a permitting procedure. These are sensitive objects. And each monument has individual security features.
The Office of the Prosecutor General also appealed to the NAPC, because such decisions are a corruption scheme to obtain approvals through the court. But no. If you make such a decision, so many money-makers will go around the world... Therefore, now the case is in the first instance - the Kiev Regional Administrative Court. Representatives of the Kyiv authorities were in no hurry to go to court. Well, because our mayor is in charge of park and bridge architecture, and not all these monuments of yours... they just make me nervous...
By the way, there is a nuance in the case with the reference plan. Protected zones of monuments were established back in the 80s. The city council gave official confirmation that the decisions were in effect. However, they were strangely not included in the reference plan
Strange, isn't it? Although... no!
And yet, unexpectedly, but about Lybid. Not because they want to bury it under the road to the Aliyev shopping center. Even more interesting. This unfortunate Lybid is already all underground. And it also flows near the museum. “From a geomorphological point of view, the territory of the Museum belongs to the first floodplain left bank terrace of the river. Lybid and has a slope in the south-west direction. The natural topography of the territory was partially changed by strengthening with fill soils. The geological structure of the territory involves Quaternary sediments (deluvial, alluvial sandy-clayey), which lie on the eroded surface of Paleogene rocks (deposits of the Kharkov formation, silts and marly clays of the Kyiv formation).
The site on which construction is planned is planned in an area with significant elevation differences of 123.8 to 133 m,” says the conclusions of Ekaterina Derevskaya. “Taking into account the results of an examination of the Museum building on its technical condition, which is extremely unsatisfactory, as well as taking into account their age, condition, and the structural elements from which they are made, the following can be stated.
The Museum building is extremely sensitive to any changes in the environment, humidity and vibrations, therefore, carrying out preparatory and construction work in close proximity to the Museum territory poses an irreparable threat to the mentioned monuments,” notes the professor, Doctor of Geological Sciences. But what the hell is geology? What kind of soil erosion? What artists? Here people lose the opportunity to make money.
I’m just wondering how they all, who support the destruction of the museum, can be on the side of Medvedchuk, Stolar, Kolyubaev and the Mehdiyevs?
