16:01, 8 June 2016

Referendum applied on naming Saint Petersburg bridge after Kadyrov

Bridge over the Dudergof Canal, Saint Petersburg. Photo: http://www.chaspik.spb.ru/people/vlasti-peterburga-soglasovali-provedenie-mitinga-protiv-mosta-kadyrova-86195/

Boris Vishnevsky, a Deputy of the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly, has filed an application to the election commission on holding a city-wide referendum on naming a bridge in the Krasnoselsky District after the first president of Chechnya Akhmat Kadyrov.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 30 the Toponymic Commission of Saint-Petersburg voted for naming the bridge over the Dudergof Canal after Akhmat Kadyrov.

The initiative group of the referendum offers three questions to citizens: firstly, do they agree with the above naming; secondly, whether the naming of urban sites should be within the powers of the City Legislative Assembly; and, thirdly, whether this sort of naming should take into account the townspeople's opinion, the RIA "Novosti" reports today.

The application for a referendum should be considered by the City Election Commission within 15 days.

On May 30, the website "Change.org" posted a petition against the above naming the bridge after Kadyrov. As of 3:00 p.m. on June 8, the petition gained 84,602 signatures.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.