President intervened against the Gazprom skyscraper in St. Petersburg

Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has personally intervened in the dispute surrounding the planned construction of a skyscraper for the gas giant Gazprom in St. Petersburg, which raises concerns about the future appearance of the historic city on the Neva River. According to today's issue of the newspaper Kommersant, Medvedev supported the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) demand to suspend the construction preparations and reassess its height.
    The construction of the controversial Okhta Center skyscraper in the former Russian capital received the green light last autumn when St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko signed a decree allowing the construction of the 403-meter-high building despite protests from part of the expert community and warnings from UNESCO that St. Petersburg could be removed from the list of World Heritage cultural sites.
    "The glass-clad building with 77 floors will be a masterpiece of architecture that future generations will be proud of," Matviyenko stated at the time. Her decree provided the project with an exemption from the rule which prohibits the construction of high-rise buildings in St. Petersburg to protect the city's unique historical panorama.
    Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov brought UNESCO's concerns to the president's attention. "The president has given us strict instructions to ensure unconditional compliance with the international obligations of the Russian Federation under the UNESCO convention," said Alexander Kibovskij, head of Russian heritage protection.
    St. Petersburg authorities have so far refrained from commenting. However, heritage experts expect that the governor will hardly dare to ignore the president's viewpoint and will likely voluntarily revoke her decision.
    The structure made of glass, concrete, and steel was set to cost 60 billion rubles (approximately 39 billion CZK). Initially, the expenses were to be covered by the St. Petersburg city hall as a bonus for relocating the oil company Gazpromneft with tax revenues to the city on the Neva River, but during the crisis, the state monopoly took it on itself. The construction did not evoke much enthusiasm among ordinary St. Petersburg residents, who have since nicknamed the skyscraper "the corn cob" or "the cigarette lighter."