Rostov Residents Lose Cassation Appeal for Kumzhenskaya Grove
The collective lawsuit was signed by more than 85 people
The Fourth Cassation Court in Krasnodar did not satisfy the complaint of a group of Rostov residents regarding the construction of the Western Chord, which will pass through Kumzhenskaya Grove. The court upheld the decision of the previous instance court. The plaintiffs plan to go to the Supreme Court to defend the mature trees. They believe that the city council did not have the right to rewrite the city«s master plan.
Here are buried 664 Soviet soldiers
The first stage of the Western Chord was built by the company «T-Trans». This is a key «road» contractor for the regional Ministry of Transport. Initially, the firm was owned by pensioner Larisa Kuts, but in October 2021, the firm was transferred to her son-in-law, businessman Pavel Rogachkin.
Rostov residents also ask for Kumzhenskaya Grove to be recognized as a monument of history, culture, and nature
«As a plaintiff and simply a resident of Rostov, it is unclear to me how city council deputies, knowing about the catastrophic shortage of green spaces in the city, could approve the cutting down of more than 800 healthy mature trees. The promise of compensatory planting on a wasteland in the Myasnikovsky District sounds like mockery,» said Rostov lawyer Irina Yakymiv, who is one of the plaintiffs. «The construction of a six-lane highway over the Alley of Silence of the Kumzhenskaya Grove memorial complex is simply sacrilege against the memory of fallen soldiers. Apparently, for this reason, the protective zone of the Kumzhenskaya memorial has still not been approved.»
The fight against the Western Chord for the safety of Kumzhenskaya Grove began at the end of 2021, says an activist, immediately after the change in the city«s master plan.
«What can be said if the road, declared in all media as a bypass, passes through the city territory? And the head of the city council»s construction commission speaks from the podium about the positive effect for the city. He talks about the environmental situation with the reduction of exhaust gases, since heavy-duty vehicles will now pass outside the city. Apparently, not all deputies know the city boundaries. I would like to remind you that the territorial planning scheme of the Rostov Region does not provide for the cutting down of Kumzhenskaya Grove. And purely legally, the discrepancy between the city«s master plan and the regional scheme is already grounds for its cancellation,» Yakymiv said.
Nevertheless, the cassation court listened to the opinion not of the city residents, but of representatives of the General Prosecutor«s Office. It requested that the judicial acts remain unchanged. According to participants of the hearing, neither the city council nor other defendants sent representatives to the court. Present at the court was Rostov resident Igor Tikhonenko, who initiated the filing of the collective lawsuit by more than 80 Rostov residents. He disagrees with the court»s ruling and is ready to go to the Supreme Court together with other Rostov residents.
According to other plaintiffs, «everything was decided in advance,» and the judges «were in the deliberation room for no more than 5 minutes.»
In December 2024, activists filed a collective lawsuit against the city administration. They demanded to change the construction route of the Western Chord. In April 2025, the court refused to satisfy the lawsuit. Later, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, demanded to check the route.
In October 2025, the regional Ministry of Transport reported that changing the route is impractical. The road will be built at a distance of 100 meters from the territory of the memorial complex. During construction, they plan to cut down part of the trees, but in return, they intend to «compensate with forest plantations» in the grove.
