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Authorities will offer several sites for construction of new cathedral in Yekaterinburg

Since May 13, unauthorized rallies have been going on in Yekaterinburg against plans to rebuild Saint Catherine’s Cathedral in a park instead of its original site

© Marina Moldavskaya/TASS

YEKATERINBURG, May 18. /TASS/. The authorities of Russia’s Sverdlovsk region will publish a list of new possible sites for the construction of Saint Catherine’s Cathedral in Yekaterinburg, the head of the region Yevgeny Kuyvashev said in his address to local residents.

"There are different points of view. All of them should be heard. Already on Monday, we will publish in the media and on the websites of regional and city authorities a list of possible sites for the construction of the cathedral. In addition to the Oktyabrskaya Square there will be at least four other sites," according to the governor’s address.

Since May 13, unauthorized rallies have been going on in Yekaterinburg against plans to rebuild Saint Catherine’s Cathedral in a park instead of its original site. As of May 16, 96 people have been detained for taking part in unsanctioned protests.

Saint Catherine’s Cathedral is expected to be built by 2023, when Yekaterinburg will celebrate its 300th anniversary.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a media forum of the All Russia People’s Front on May 16 that a survey on the construction of the Cathedral needed to be conducted among the city’s residents. Yekaterinburg’s authorities accepted the initiative.

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