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Business ombudsman touts moving Russia’s capital to new location every 12 years

Regular relocation of the capital may accelerate the economic development of different territories, Russia's business ombudsman says

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

NOVOSIBIRSK, February 27. /TASS/. Russia's business ombudsman Boris Titov, who is contesting Russia’s presidency from the Party of Growth, has come up with an idea of moving Russia’s capital to a different city every twelve years.

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"I believe it would be correct to make some change from time to time and to move the capital to a different place once in twelve years," Titov said at a meeting with scientists in the research cluster Akademgorodok in Novosibirsk on Tuesday. "We exist in a new reality. Whereas before all means of communication and the Kremlin’s cables and other infrastructures were the main obstruction, why can’t the capital be relocated these days?" Titov asked.

In his opinion regular relocation of the capital may accelerate the economic development of different territories. The twelve-year tenure will be pegged to the duration of two successive presidential terms. Each time the capital would be relocated to the city where the need for considerable economic growth is the strongest, Titov believes.

He recalled some positive examples on that score, for instance, Brazil, which in 1960 made Brazilia its main city, taking away this status from Rio de Janeiro, and also Kazakhstan, where in 1997 the capital was moved from Almaty to Akmola (currently Astana).

Titov believes that Novosibirsk may well be regarded as a likely candidate for the holder of the rotating capital city status.

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