The Duma approved the controversial Moscow construction project

Moscow - The Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) today, despite protests, approved a law allowing the implementation of a massive construction project in Moscow. The plans, which will displace thousands of panel buildings, could affect more than a million people. However, only those houses will be removed where the residents previously give majority consent to demolition, assured Duma Vice Chairman Pyotr Tolstoy today, according to the Interfax agency. The relevant law still has to be officially approved in one more reading, but this is generally considered a formality, reported the DPA agency.

Due to the intention to demolish residential buildings from the time of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, so-called "Khrushchyovkas," thousands of people have protested in recent weeks. Around the project, advocated by Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, there are numerous unresolved legal and financial questions. Many people also fear they will have to move from the city center to high-rise buildings on the outskirts of the metropolis.

According to the radio station Echo of Moscow, today around two hundred people demonstrated for several hours in front of the Duma. One opposition politician and three other participants in the demonstration were briefly detained during the protest. In mid-May, over 10,000 Muscovites protested at once against the demolition of "Khrushchyovkas."

Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees with the plans, but social unrest in Moscow is not pleasant for him. Next year, both the elections for the Moscow mayor and the Russian president will take place.

The project involves the demolition of an entire neighborhood of simple, mostly panel buildings from the post-war period of the Soviet Union. The city hall insists that the buildings are too dilapidated and outdated, whereas many residents and activists see the plan as a ploy to free up lucrative plots of land.

The five-story buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s were meant to solve the housing crisis. Up to 8,000 homes could be demolished, and the new construction is expected to cost 2.4 trillion rubles (nearly a trillion crowns). According to some estimates, the demolition could leave up to 1.6 million people homeless, which is 13 percent of the residents of the Russian capital.