A resident of an apartment building on Petrovsky Island in St Petersburg explains what happens when the powers-that-be decide that your house needs to make way for a bridge

Yulia Galkina

The tale of Valery Ivanovich Novichenko, a 65-year-old resident of Petrovsky Island in St Petersburg, is the typical story of an ordinary city dweller’s battle against the “destructive creation” underpinning the development of the city.

Currently, Novichenko still resides in two rooms of a communal flat on Remeslennaya Street. But, in accordance with plans approved by the Transportation Infrastructure Development Committee, he and his neighbours will be resettled by the end of December, with demolition of the apartment building due to commence shortly afterward. By 2018, the local stretch of the Malaya Neva will be spanned by the so-called Serny Bridge – a behemoth of a project mooted during the administration of Valentina Matvienko, governor of Petersburg from 2003 to 2011. Sceptics believe that the bridge, which will connect Vasilievsky Island to the Petrograd Side, is likely to cater almost exclusively to World Cup fans, serving as a convenient way to get from Pulkovo Airport to the stadium under construction on Krestovsky Island.

The bridge project has generated at least two controversies. The first is of a criminal nature: Novichenko’s apartment block – a pre-revolutionary building – is currently listed in the state cadastral register as having been constructed in 1920. The City Prosecutor’s Office has initiated legal proceedings for document forgery; the demolition of pre-revolutionary (historical) buildings is forbidden by law. The second controversy, meanwhile, is to do with property prices: the value of Novichenko’s two rooms has been estimated at 1.9 million rubles. By way of comparison, the cheapest two-room flat on Petersburg’s secondary market – located in a former obshchezhitie (communal residential facility) in Krasnoye Selo – costs 2,150,000 roubles. The Petrogradsky District has some of the most expensive real estate in the city. With the money he’s being offered, Novichenko would be forced to relocate to a one-room flat in Shushary, beyond the city’s Ring Road.

I spoke to Valery Novichenko about how his life has changed since construction of the bridge began, and he told us why he continues to battle the system instead of retreating to Shushary.

“My wife [who has now passed away] was born in this house; she spent her whole life here. I moved in when we married in 1975. […] The house is very warm, very cosy. High ceilings, good air. Wonderful.

“In September 2015, we were called to a meeting with the administration of the Petrogradsky District [to discuss resettlement]. This was hardly news, since the bridge project has been in the works for eight years now: we were on the verge of being resettled back in 2008. They told us not to worry – we wouldn’t be left in the lurch.

“But there was a caveat: the Petrogradsky District was an expensive one, they said, and we should be aware that we’d have to relocate. So they suggested we let them know our neighbourhood preferences. I wanted them to let me stay in Petrogradsky, or at least in nearby Primorsky. I’ve a bad heart, and all my doctors are here in Petrogradsky, I didn’t want that to change. But then I thought, well, having good neighbours is often even more important – they’re the ones who’re going to give you on-the-spot aid. So when my neighbours began to get apartments in new-builds on Soyuzny Prospekt in the Nevsky District, I thought, what the hell, no point being bolshie. So I told the administration I’d be willing to relocate to Nevsky.

“In February – and completely out of the blue! – the housing department of the Petrogradsky District offered me a three-room flat on that selfsame Soyuzny Prospekt. I went and had a look – the flat wasn’t particularly to my taste, but beggars can’t be choosers. So I went back to the housing department, where I was told that I needed to sign some paper or other: if I was found to have any additional property, I’d be deprived of everything through the courts. I didn’t sign: what was going on here?

“As it turned out, they’d suddenly discovered that, upon her death, my mother had bequeathed me her flat in Veliky Novgorod. I was immediately removed from the waiting list for improved housing conditions, which I’d been on since 1990. “But I’ve never lived in Veliky Novgorod,” I told them, “I only ever went there to visit my mother. I’ve no one left in Novgorod, why should I have to relocate there?”

“And that’s when the court saga began.

“By March, the majority of the house’s residents had been resettled: eight families were given housing in the Nevsky District, and two in the Moskovsky. They’re not exactly enamoured by life on Soyuzny Prospekt, they’re in a rabbit warren there. But they’ve no choice, so they have to grin and bear it.

“There are six families left in the house. Two of them – Yelena Shcheglova’s and mine – endured the nightmare of the district court and lodged an appeal. We’re waiting for St Petersburg City Court to consider our case. The other four families are always on the phone to the Petrogradsky District Administration, asking what action has been undertaken in their regard. As far as I know, they’re told, “Just wait till we’ve finished with Novichenko and the Shcheglovs – things’ll get clearer for you after that.”

“The whole situation is, of course, also having an adverse effect on my health. I’m constantly replaying it all in my head at night, and I’m not sleeping that well. My heart is being a bother, too.

“I’m not going to leave the house of my own accord. I’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court if need be. And I want justice to be served as far as the date of construction is concerned – I want the house to be re-certified [as dating from the pre-revolutionary era]. We have to prove that there’s one law for all.

“I’m a massive football fan. But, to be honest, I’d quite fancy writing a letter to FIFA to tell them that several families are being chucked out onto the street – and all thanks to the World Cup. I can’t move in with my son’s family. Let them live their lives. If I’m evicted, I’ll go and be a bum by Smolny.”

This is an abridged translation of an article originally published in the-village.ru