The Supreme Court has overturned a decision by the Moscow region government to allow construction on environmentally protected land of the Arkhangelskoye estate, an area that VTB and Sintez might want to develop.
The court ruling Friday marked the first lawsuit against the regional government won by local residents, Vedomosti reported.
"An attempt to seize protected land for construction has fallen through," said Yevgeny Sosedov, chairman of the Moscow chapter of the All-Russian Association for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Landmarks.
The Supreme Court upheld the ruling that the Moscow Region Court handed down in September to rescind three orders by former Moscow region Governor Boris Gromov, which rezoned the land in question for construction. Those were some of the last orders that Gromov signed before he stepped down in May 2012.
The court acted on a complaint from 23 individuals who own parcels of the land.
One of the real estate developers that announced plans to build housing on the territory was Sinergo Development, which was going to build $3 billion worth of upscale apartments in a project it named Barvikha Island. It planned to start in 2007 but the company folded and, according to the RBC news wire, its assets passed to a company called Sintez Development.
Vedomosti also earlier reported that some of the 430 hectares of the land ended up at state-controlled VTB, the country's second largest bank. A spokesperson for the bank declined comment.