The lack of accessible sports facilities has outraged residents of a village in Volgograd.

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Volgograd residents living in the village of Vtoroy Kilometer have appealed to federal authorities to rescind the district administration's order to demolish sports facilities installed by residents. They expressed outrage over the lack of accessible sports facilities in the village.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," residents of the Volgograd village of Vtoroy Kilometer complained on May 9 about the authorities' attempts to deprive them of their only social facility—a stadium equipped by local activists. The complaint attracted the attention of the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, and an investigation into the negligence case has been launched.

The village of Vtoroy Kilometer is located in the Dzerzhinsky District of Volgograd, bordering the Central District near the ravine separating residential areas from Mamayev Kurgan. The village is home to 3,500 Volgograd residents. The village is a private sector. The only sports facility residents have access to is the stadium of the former School No. 41 (now Kindergarten No. 23).

If the stadium is demolished, we will have nowhere to go in our neighborhood. There are no accessible sports areas.

The family of railroad worker Vasily Starovoitov lives on Novosokolnicheskaya Street. Vasily told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that his nephew is preparing to enter a military academy. He needs to pass sports standards. This is the boy's second year of training, attending a sports section and running long-distance races. "He finished school (at Seven Winds), but now they don't let him onto the school stadium. Other schools have the same restrictions. In dry weather, he runs through the vacant lots and forest belts behind Mamayev Kurgan. And in rainy weather, he trains at the old stadium of the former School No. 41. There's access there. And we sometimes play tennis there. If the stadium is closed, we'll have nowhere to go in our neighborhood. "There are no accessible sports areas here," said Vasily Starovoytov. Ravil Shabanov, a resident of the 2nd Kilometer microdistrict, declined to name the members of the initiative group to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He only noted that he himself had occasionally participated in community improvement projects in the village as an ordinary participant. "Yes, it was essentially a private initiative of a few enthusiasts. Who financed the public works is unlikely to tell you that information. Apparently, there were sponsors." "For example, coordinating work carried out by community activists at the stadium of (former) School No. 41 with the city administration makes no sense, since what a residents' initiative group installed there does not require approval," Ravil said.

This stadium is the only place for residents of our village to relax and play sports.

Shabanov reported that the stadium's main structures—goals, volleyball net posts, and a 200-meter fence—were installed "back in Soviet times." These structures are owned by the city administration. Local residents brought a tennis table and a wooden podium to the stadium. These are portable structures. Their installation, according to Ravil, also does not require approval from the city administration. The gazebo with swings, however, has no foundation and therefore "is not a permanent structure and does not require permission from the administration." "This stadium is the only place for the residents of our village to relax and play sports. There are no nearby alternatives, unless you drive 10 kilometers to the city center. We understand the mayor's office's persistence. They want to squeeze three multi-story buildings into our village. They've already rezoned one site (near the ravine) from the residential zone G1 (private sector housing, - Caucasian Knot note) to the zone G2 (multi-story apartment buildings, - Caucasian Knot note). Now they want to rezoned two more sites: this stadium and the site of Kindergarten No. 23 (the former School No. 41 building, - Caucasian Knot note). It's clear they'll demolish the kindergarten," Ravil Shabanov said indignantly. He noted that a group of village residents has repeatedly filed complaints with the mayor's office and regulatory authorities over the past three years. He said they've recorded group video messages twice. "Well, as we can see, the city administration doesn't want to hear us. They're sticking to their guns. But the Investigative Committee heard us," Shabanov said. Historian Andrei Kudinov lives in Volgograd's Dzerzhinsky District. He told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the former School No. 41 building is one of the few brick structures in the Dzerzhinsky District that survived the Battle of Stalingrad. "The school was built in 1937. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was located on its grounds. A memorial plaque honoring Hero of Russia Yevgeny Barmyantsev was installed on the wall of the school (now Kindergarten No. 23) in December 2021 (ed. note: "Caucasian Knot"). He attended this school. I'm confident that the building should be designated a cultural landmark. "The mayor's office, it seems, is planning its demolition," the historian stated.

Kudinov also noted that the construction of three apartment buildings in the village could "overload the municipal infrastructure," "which has been partially in operation here since 1949 and is severely deteriorated."

Human rights activist and lawyer Ivan Ivanov on his social media page called the mayor's office's actions "lawlessness" and a "land grab" that runs counter to the interests of local residents. He informed his followers that in 2016, the authorities approved the construction of a 25-story building with 220 apartments on the disputed plot of land—the Stalingradsky residential complex. "By 2021, the appetites of the developer, OOO <....>, and their friends in the administration have grown; they have been issued a new permit to build three 25-story buildings with 660 apartments on the same plot of land! "The new permit was issued by... Deputy Mayor of Volgograd V.P. Sidorenko. Since there is no land left in the residential complex for sufficient parking (according to federal regulations, 792 spaces for 660 apartments), it was decided to build only 233 parking spaces within the residential complex itself. The remaining parking spaces, with the support of Volgograd Mayor V.V. Marchenko, are being built on private streets, including at distances of more than 500 meters from the residential complex itself," Ivan Ivanov reported.

The human rights activist noted that at public hearings, residents of streets adjacent to the problematic plot of land expressed their categorical disagreement with "such lawlessness." But Volgograd Mayor Vladimir Marchenko, according to Ivanov, sided with the developer in this dispute, “thereby violating the rights of citizens,” since “green areas improved by Volgograd residents” will be destroyed during construction.

Lawyer and expert in international law Roman Melnichenko, answering questions from a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent, explained that the actions of the citizens’ initiative group who illegally built sports facilities at the stadium of the former School No. 41 “do not constitute either criminal or administrative offenses.”

In the case of the sports ground of a capital construction project, there is no evidence of an administrative offense.

“The closest offense is found in Article 9.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, ‘Violation of the established procedure for construction, reconstruction, "Major repairs of a capital construction project and its commissioning." However, in the case of the capital construction project's sports ground, there is no violation, meaning there is no administrative offense," Melnichenko said.

The lawyer, citing Article 222 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, noted that unauthorized structures are subject to demolition by the person who built them or at their expense. "That is, the administration can oblige residents to either remove unauthorized structures or charge them for the cost of demolition," he explained.