Sheremetyevo Airport director Mikhail Vasilenko on Wednesday accused Mayor Yury Luzhkov of deliberately blocking a key artery leading to the airport to promote another airport owned by City Hall.
Traffic has been backed up on Leningradskoye Shosse, the St. Petersburg-bound highway that leads to the airport, because of construction on a bridge being carried out by Moscow authorities. All but two lanes of the highway have been closed because of work on a bridge over a railroad near Khimki.
The construction will continue to Oct. 1, Andrei Tsybin, head of Moscow's housing and utilities department, told reporters Wednesday.
"I cannot explain this situation except by the fact that Vnukovo Airport, which belongs to the Moscow government, will be launching a new terminal on July 3," Vasilenko wrote on his LiveJournal blog Wednesday.
“Creating problems for competitors … including using political resource” is a key path to success, he wrote, blaming Luzhkov for failing to warn people and organize alternate routes.
"Hundreds of people, passengers and pilots alike, missed their flights in these days," Vasilenko wrote in an emotional message, blaming Luzhkov for failure to warn people and organize alternate routes.
