Residents of Rostov-on-Don wrote a petition to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a request to save the grove on the left bank of the Don from destruction. More than 1,100 people left their signatures under it.
In the petition, residents ask to curb the appetites of corrupt officials acting through their oligarchs. 
“You have repeatedly demanded that law enforcement agencies and officials at various levels eradicate corruption and act in the interests of Russian citizens,” residents note.
People told the head of state that for many decades along Shosseynaya Street on the banks of the Don there has been a grove in which ash trees, acacias and willows grow. This is the only green corner in the area, which they now want to destroy and turn into residential buildings.
“Construction of other large residential areas is underway and planned more than 300 meters from the shore. And here city officials give away the most delicious piece of land under the grove to their confidants, as if there were few other places where there were wastelands,” the appeal says.
Residents doubt that the area will be accessible to everyone and not surrounded by fences. And they are also not sure that “twigs” will not be planted instead of large trees. Moreover, there are more than enough examples around the city.
“Rostovites from all over the city came here to relax, but the administration transferred the grove from recreational use to land for the development of multi-storey buildings. In essence, they have thereby authorized the destruction of the natural park and are giving the territory to a specific developer,” residents write.
They also note that the project has already been “pushed” through the city’s Public Chamber. Moreover, the head of this chamber is the former mayor of Rostov, Mikhail Chernyshev, who, in a strange way, together with his daughter, received plots that belonged to the Botanical Garden of the Southern Federal University. And his daughter was found guilty of fraud with the land.
Residents learned that the city administration wants to push the project as a large-scale investment. This is necessary for free allocation of the site. With a plot price of more than 1 billion rubles. For the city budget, they say, this is lost profit.
“Help us!. Give the command to the insatiable officials to stop tormenting their hometown, destroying the green island to line their pockets with money! And we ask you to instruct the Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation to check the unruly lawbreakers,” the residents noted.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”
