Oleg Shein: in Astrakhan, "Edinaya Rossiya" deprives Council of Veterans of its premises

Representatives of the Astrakhan Branch of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party deprived the local Council of Veterans of its premises. This was reported by Oleg Shein, former candidate for the position of Mayor of Astrakhan. The "Edinaya Rossiya" Party denies its involvement in the eviction of the organization.

According to Oleg Shein, on September 7, two unidentified men took away the keys from staff members of the Council of Veterans.

"I got a call from the Council of Veterans, and I was told that on Friday, September 7, they 'were kicked out of the premises.' When I came there, I saw things, including stands with photos, being lined in the hallway. And whereabouts of office equipment is unknown," Oleg Shein said.

According to him, no documents were presented at capturing the premises. According to Oleg Shein, local headquarters of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party will be based in the building.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Gamlet Shakhinyan, Chairman of the Council of Veterans, instead of using their premises, the member of the Council of Veterans were proposed to conduct the it meetings in the administration assembly hall. However, according to Gamlet Shakhinyan, the premise is not suitable for that.

The Chairman of the Council intends to go to court to return the premises. To get support, Gamlet Shakhinyan contacted Vitaly Arakelyan, Chairman of the Public Chamber of the Astrakhan Region, Rifkat Shabanov, the deputy of the Astrakhan Regional Duma from the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party, and Alexander Klykanov, Secretary of the Political Council of the Astrakhan Regional Branch of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party.

The representatives of the Astrakhan Branch of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party deny their involvement in the eviction of the Council of Veterans.

"The Order on the relocation was not prepared by the 'Edinaya Rossiya' Party. The Council of Veterans was not "thrown out", but it was offered another premise the assembly hall of the Soviet administration. We have sent an appeal to Mikhail Stolyarov, Mayor and the member of the General Council of the Party. The assembly hall, offered by him, does not meet the requirements for the work of the public organization. The assembly hall has no necessary means of communication and environment for activities," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by the representative of the Regional Branch of the "Edinaya Rossiya" Party.

In their turn, representatives of the Mayoralty claim that no NGO was evicted, and only the organizations were only offered to temporarily move to other buildings because of renovations.

"The issue of eviction of those organizations in the street was not considered. We received no formal objections, including ones from the Council of Veterans," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Vladislav Zubanov, a representative of the city administration.