Very few of our buildings that are put up in some densely populated environment escape some sort of sabotage by the locals. Sadly, this is a very common thing to happen. We understand that a construction site nearby is not the most pleasant thing in the world, and it obviously touches upon the interests of everyone around,’ Valery Ananyev, the General Director of Atomstroycomplex, one of Yekaterinburg’s leading developers, said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg.

‘The same kind of thing always happens: broken headlights, smashed machinery, workers who get beaten. The developers are losing a lot of time and money, and the police don’t usually interfere, thinking it must be the builders’ own business. Notably, the developers themselves usually act on fully legal grounds. The construction business is strictly regulated by the surveillance authorities, and any tree we fell costs a fortune. It takes us about three years of negotiations to get a building permit even for the simplest kind of building,’ Ananyev said.