The court rejected a lawsuit against the Krasnodar City Duma regarding a church on the embankment.

Activist Vitaly Cherkasov challenged the Krasnodar City Duma's decision on the embankment site planning for the church in the Krasnodar Regional Court, but the court rejected the claim. Cherkasov filed an appeal.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on April 23, activists announced a signature drive for a petition to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia asking him to reconsider the decision to build the church on Rozhdestvenskaya Embankment. In two days, they collected nearly 500 signatures for the petition. They reported attempts by police to obstruct the signature drive. On April 23, Krasnodar police warned activist Yana Antonova about the inadmissibility of participating in protests marking the arrival of Patriarch Kirill. However, the Patriarch did not visit Rozhdestvenskaya Embankment.

The Krasnodar Regional Court rejected the lawsuit filed by activist Vitaly Cherkasov. Activist Yana Antonova reported today on her Telegram channel about the land plot on Rozhdestvenskaya Embankment, on which a church is planned to be built.

In his lawsuit, Cherkasov requested that the decision of the Krasnodar City Duma of January 21, 2026, No. 8, paragraph 17, "On Amending the Decision of the Krasnodar City Duma of September 21, 2017, No. 41, paragraph 14, "On the Designation of a Green Zone in the Municipal Formation of the City of Krasnodar," be declared illegal and invalid from the date of adoption, according to the decision published on the website of the Krasnodar Regional Court.

Changing the status of a green zone affects the quality of the urban environment and environmental safety. Violation of established procedures for approving urban planning documentation undermines the principles of legality and legal certainty in the activities of local governments. The violation committed creates a precedent for ignoring mandatory deadlines, which may lead to systemic violations of citizens' rights in the field of urban planning. activities, the activist stated in the lawsuit.

The court concluded that the contested decision of the Krasnodar City Duma does not contain legal provisions defining the rights and obligations of the administrative plaintiff. It specifies a diagram, a site plan, and the coordinates of the boundaries of the 80th Anniversary Square of the Krasnodar Territory. Therefore, the regulatory legal act does not contain any instructions or legal provisions that could be considered infringing the rights of the administrative plaintiff. The court also stated that the contested provisions do not apply to the administrative plaintiff and do not regulate the legal relations in which he is a party, do not create grounds for the emergence of civil rights and obligations, and, accordingly, cannot entail any violation of his legally protected rights, freedoms, and interests. As a result, the court refused to accept the claim to invalidate the regulatory legal act.

The hearing took place on April 30, but the decision was not published in the court file until May 28.

According to information on the court's website, Cherkasov appealed the decision; the complaint was received by the Third Court of Appeal on May 19.

Activists have been fighting against embankment development for several years.

As a reminder, on December 15, 2025, residents of the Yubileyny microdistrict of Krasnodar, protesting against embankment development, recorded a video message to Vladimir Putin, but their question was not voiced during the president's direct line.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in November, opponents of the church's construction in Yubileiny, together with representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, began collecting signatures demanding the resignation of Mayor Yevgeny Naumov.

In September 2024, residents of the Yubileiny microdistrict of Krasnodar protested against the development of Rozhdestvenskaya Embankment, where, according to the city's new general plan, a church was planned. They explained that this was the only major recreation area in the microdistrict. Activists collected signatures for a petition to Governor Veniamin Kondratyev against the development of Rozhdestvenskaya Embankment. More than 3,000 signatures were collected. Activist Vitaly Cherkasov and City Duma Deputy Alexander Safronov were detained while collecting signatures and fined by the court.

Residents of the neighborhood actively protested the development of the embankment, explaining that it is the only major recreational area in the neighborhood. However, in November 2024, the City Duma deputies adopted a new general plan despite their protests.

Back in December 2021, activists protested against the construction of a new church on the embankment in Krasnodar. Residents of the Yubileiny microdistrict also protested. Embankment defenders believe it is necessary to build educational and leisure facilities for children in the microdistrict. In January 2022, activist Yana Antonova held a solo picket against the transfer of land on the embankment to the Russian Orthodox Church for the construction of a church.