The city of Moscow is planning to renovate the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, according to a new public procurement plan published by the government. Today, the bridge is best known as the site of Boris Nemtsov’s assassination on Feb. 27, 2015.
The city will start receiving bids from construction companies in March, with a starting price of almost 3.3 billion rubles ($56.7 million).
A city official told the news site Meduza that there are no plans to perform any special renovations to the site of Nemtsov’s murder.
By law, any state purchases above 1 billion rubles ($17.2 million) are subject to mandatory public hearings, where local citizens will be allowed to voice their opinions about the project. The public discussion about the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge’s renovations is scheduled for March 7.
The city of Moscow has repeatedly rejected initiatives to install a memorial plaque dedicated to Boris Nemtsov at Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge. In April 2016, Vladimir Putin deflected a question about the absence of a Nemtsov memorial in Moscow, saying it is a matter for local officials. The president did say, however, that he doesn’t welcome the city’s policy of raiding the makeshift memorial activists have maintained on the bridge for the past two years.
