Medvedev's office denies approving plans to disband cultural heritage watchdog
Moscow, 18 August: Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev has not taken any decisions disbanding Rosokhrankultura (Federal Service for Supervision of Compliance with the Law in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage), the president's administration reported.
"The issue of disbanding Rosokhrankultura has not been examined in the president's administration, so the president has not taken any decisions on this subject," the administration reported.
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Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Culture was also unable to confirm reports that Rosokhrankultura was facing disbandment, with its functions being transferred to the ministry.
"We currently do not have documents or instructions on the transfer of Rosokhrankultura functions to the ministry," the press secretary of the Russian Ministry of Culture, Nataliya Uvarova, told Interfax on Wednesday (18 August).
"We comment on facts, not on rumours about the transfer or non-transfer of functions," she said.
However, a spokesman for Rosokhrankultura has told Interfax that the information about the transfer of the agency's functions to the Ministry of Culture corresponds to reality. "The transfer of the agency's powers to the ministry amounts to the disbandment of the agency," the Rosokhrankultura spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Wednesday that Minister of Culture Aleksandr Avdeyev had been instructed to draft a decree transferring Rosokhrankultura functions directly to the ministry.
"The only executive agency opposing the construction of the 403-metre skyscraper Okhta-Tsentr in St Petersburg (project funded by Gazprom and the city government) could be disbanded," the newspaper said.
According to Kommersant's information, the Ministry of Culture, Rosokhrankultura as well as the Ministry of Regional Development, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance had received a letter from the Russian minister of culture proposing that his ministry take over "the functions of the executive agency for the protection of cultural heritage, copyright and allied rights" as well as "control, supervision, and normative and legal regulation" in this field. Since 2008 all these functions have been performed by Rosokhrankultura, which is an executive agency under the Ministry of Culture.
"Rosokhrankultura head Aleksandr Kibovskiy and the deputy ministry of culture with responsibility for his agency, Andrey Busygin, have declined to comment. However, Busygin said that he would not comment because 'the letter was signed by the minister'," Kommersant reported.
Keywords: Medvedev, Rosokhrankultura, Federal Service for Supervision of Compliance with the Law in the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Russian Government, Ministry of Culture, History, Architecture, Russia, Russian, Johnson's Russia List, Russia News
