Residents of central Moscow’s Arbat district have asked for a famous wall commemorating rock legend Viktor Tsoi to be removed, the Moskva city news agency reports.
They propose moving the tribute to the frontman of the rock group Kino to Luzhniki in Moscow or St. Petersburg — Tsoi’s birth city, the report cited Arbat District head Yevgeny Babenko as saying.
Babenko said the "Tsoi Wall" was in need of repair but that the musician's fans had failed to acquire the necessary permission from property owners around the site for the renovations.
He added that the wall was a popular hangout spot for those who “disturbed the public order,” causing problems for some residents in the area.
Babenko said authorities would likely put the question to a vote on the city’s Aktivny Grazhdanin online voting platform.
“The city will decide and residents of Arbat will decide,” he was cited as saying.
Tsoi is widely considered to have played a leading role in Soviet rock music.
He died in a car accident on Aug. 15, 1990. That day, the wall close to Moscow's pedestrian Arbat Street was inscribed with the text: “Viktor Tsoi died today.” It was then followed by “Tsoi lives!”
Over several years, quotes from his songs and other graffiti were inscribed on the wall and today it is among the city’s most popular landmarks.
