Rostov Authorities Compensate Businessman for Vavilov Street Project

The authorities of Rostov have accepted the court decision and will purchase another large land plot and two buildings on it in the area of the Vavilov Street reconstruction. The road widening project, already delayed, will now become significantly more expensive.

By the authorities« decision, the list of private property to be acquired through purchase has been supplemented with a plot of just over 2,000 square meters and two non-residential buildings at Vavilova, 73, with areas of 366 and 195.6 square meters.

The properties, as reported by 161.RU, belong to entrepreneur Alexander Kurinov. Initially, he owned a warehouse on a 5,405-square-meter plot. In early 2022, he was informed that the property falls within the Vavilov Street reconstruction zone and therefore is subject to seizure by the city. The problem turned out to be that the authorities did not need all of Kurinov«s property. From his plot, they carved out 3,356 square meters.

On the remaining land, the businessman attempted to continue his operations. Kurinov had a warehouse with freezers there. However, the transformer substation from which he received electricity remained on the land seized by the city. The entrepreneur applied to «TNS Energo» for the relocation of the substation, but the company responded that it was impossible. At «Donenergo,» Kurinov was told that on his remaining plot, it would be fundamentally impossible to connect any power-receiving equipment.

In other words, conducting business on the remaining land proved impossible. Then Kurinov appealed to the Rostov administration, demanding that all his remaining property be purchased. The authorities refused, stating that his now-useless land did not fall within the boundaries of the road reconstruction. This was in November 2023.

Two weeks after this response, the power was cut off at Kurinov«s warehouse for the first time. The cause was work on the plot that had been taken from him. After another week, the power went out again, but this time a fire also occurred. Moreover, after the reconstruction began, all access roads to Kurinov»s warehouse were closed. After all this, the warehouse predictably began to quickly lose tenants.

In March 2024, Kurinov filed a lawsuit with the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region. He asked for the decision to seize his land to be declared illegal and for a second decision to be issued, which would entail the purchase of the entire original plot with all real estate. According to the assessment, the land and buildings remaining in Kurinov«s ownership were worth 129.8 million rubles (about $1.4 million at current rates). To this amount, he added losses and requested 137.1 million rubles (about $1.5 million at current rates).

The trial lasted over a year. In April 2025, the Arbitration Court ruled in favor of Kurinov. The Rostov administration, as expected, disagreed and filed an appeal. However, in December 2025, it lost that as well. The authorities did not appeal to the cassation court. And on January 30, 2026, a resolution was issued, by which the city will essentially enforce the court decision.

Recall that the reconstruction of Vavilov was supposed to be completed by the end of 2025. The blame for the delay was placed on the contractor. The new date is May 30, 2026. The project has also become more expensive. If initially the authorities cited a figure of 9 billion rubles (about $100 million at current rates), now it is already 10.1 billion rubles (about $112 million at current rates) «accounting for adjustments.» Apparently, over 100 million rubles (about $1.1 million at current rates) more must now be added to this, which Kurinov is to receive.