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Chirikova promises to fight for Khimki forest in French court

Chirikova confirmed that she has not become the single candidate from the opposition
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, September 10 (Itar-Tass) — Candidate for the Khimki mayoral post Yevgeniya Chirikova said at a press conference on Monday that she would fight for the Khimki forest in a French court. On Sunday, she was registered as a candidate in the elections of the head of Khimki.

“The decision on my registration has come as a pleasant surprise for me,” Chirikova admitted. “We’ve collected 1,200 signatures and submitted 799. We have collected many signatures but could leave only the ideal ones.”

In case of her victory Chirikova promises to apply to a French court in connection with the participation of a French company in the construction of a toll highway that is being built through the Khimki forest. “If I become mayor I will make France pay to our budget so that it never makes attempts to colonise our country anymore,” she said.

The Khimki mayoral candidate also noted that “the fundamental nature of the elections in Khimki is that the opposition for the first time runs with its own program – a program that would abandon the resource economy and start the city’s development not by land speculations.”

Chirikova confirmed that she has not become the single candidate from the opposition. “I’m not saying I’m the single candidate, I’ve said that for the first time the opposition is running with its own ideology,” she said. “Those opposition forces that really want changes have long been with us, and those opposition forces which need only PR and want old men not to be forgotten, let them take care of this themselves,” the defender of the Khimki forest answered a question why she has failed to reach an agreement with all the opposition forces.

The elections in Khimki are to be held on October 14. More than 20 candidates are vying for the mayoral post. Khimki mayor Vladimir Strelchenko resigned on August 15 and the Tula Region’s first deputy governor Oleg Shakhov was appointed as the acting mayor. The Khimki municipal legislature accepted Strelchenko’s resignation on August 17 and set a mayoral election for October 14.