Here's an unusual excuse for razing an entire settlement that the authorities have not used before — and are unlikely to use again.
The federal government wants to demolish a tiny settlement of 75 people in the Moscow region because it sits on the land where Napoleon fought the pivotal Battle of Borodino in 1812.
The old battlefield, the government says, needs to be restored to the way it looked after the fighting: a battle-scarred terrain devoid of the 14 dilapidated houses that now occupy the site.
The planned demolition of the settlement, Posyolok Borodinskogo Muzeya, located about 120 kilometers west of Moscow, is part of preparations to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Russia's victory over Napoleon's army.
Although Napoleon defeated the Russians at Borodino on Sept. 7, 1812, the victory proved to be his undoing because he ended up exhausting his forces by pressing deeper into Russia with the mistaken belief that the campaign could be won.
Most residents of the settlement are current and former staff of the State Borodino War and History Museum and Reserve, which is located nearby, and they are more than happy to give up their ramshackle homes in exchange for something better.
"The houses are made of panel board and meant for temporary living. The toilet is in the yard," said Alexander Gorbunov, deputy director of the State Borodino War and History Museum and Reserve.
Gorbunov has been living in the settlement with his family for 30 years.
"We hope that funding will be allotted this year and a place will be found to build housing for us," he told The Moscow Times.
The eagerness of the settlement's residents to see their homes destroyed marks a stark contrast to the anger of homeowners who have seen their houses demolished by the authorities for various reasons.
In a recent example, Moscow City Hall razed more than 20 private houses in the Rechnik neighborhood and threatened to demolish the Fantasy Island residential complex in January after declaring that the homes had been illegally built.
City authorities backed off after President Dmitry Medvedev intervened.
City Hall has often torn down centrally located apartment buildings in the name of progress and resettled residents in neighborhoods in the city's outskirts — much to the residents' wrath.
Deputy Culture Minister Andrei Busygin announced the plans to knock down the settlement of Posyolok Borodinskogo Muzeya at the inaugural meeting of a 200th-anniversary planning committee on March 17.
"We are facing an obstacle in preserving the Borodino field. We have to knock down a settlement located directly on the Borodino field in the Mozhaisk district," Busygin said.
But the government isn't sure what to do with the residents. Although the houses are in ill repair, they cannot yet be condemned, which would qualify their owners for a government-sponsored resettlement program, Busygin said.
About 40 billion rubles ($1.4 billion) has been earmarked in the federal budget to resettle residents of condemned housing this year, Konstantin Tsitsin, head of the Housing and Utilities Reform Fund, a state corporation, said last month.
Busygin said the authorities were seeking private investors to build new houses for the residents.
"There is a willingness and opportunity to find investors to build housing and to relocate [residents]," he said, Interfax reported.
The first houses in Posyolok Borodinskogo Muzeya, or the Borodino Museum Community, were built for museum staff after World War II, in the late 1940s, by captured German and Italian soldiers, museum director Mikhail Cherepashenets said.
Other houses consist of former barracks brought from Arkhangelsk in 1978 to accommodate additional museum staff.
The settlement now consists of 14 shabby panel-board houses where 75 people live, Cherepashenets said.
Thirteen houses are state-owned and one, which was built by museum staff in Soviet times and later sold to its current owners, is private property.
Knocking down the houses is part of a government program to restore the historic and cultural landscape of the area, Cherepashenets said, adding that the government has promised to provide new housing for residents in one of the nearby villages.
Finding a way to preserve the Borodino battlefield represents a major problem that must be resolved this year, said Busygin, adding that the funding for the project had been appropriated in the budget. "There are some disagreements with the Economic Development Ministry and the Finance Ministry, but I think that we'll solve this issue," Busygin said.
In all, the government plans to spend about 2.4 billion rubles to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Russia's 1812 victory over Napoleon, said Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov at the planning committee meeting.
Part of the funds will be spent on the construction of a new museum devoted to the Napoleonic war of 1812. The museum will display items from the vaults of Red Square's State Historical Museum, Zhukov said.
The country already has at least two state museums devoted to 1812 — the State Borodino War and History Museum and Reserve and the Borodino Battle Panorama Museum on Moscow's Kutuzovsky Prospekt.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.