The Gazprom tower, which threatens to imperil St Petersburg’s UNESCO heritage status, has been the subject of several public protests of late and, as you may remember, some imaginative headlines.  Now the  project seems to have encountered a new adversary.  An article in today’s Moscow Times reports that two state channels have offered contrasting opinions on the potential new HQ, which could signal a government rift.  A Channel One report harshly criticized the plans.  Interviewee Valentina Matviyenko, St. Petersburg Governor and tower approver, seemed to backtrack with a suggestion that the plans would have to wait for ‘serious government assessment’ before going ahead.  Meanwhile Gazprom’s media organ NTV heartily endorsed the project (no surprises there). 

Conservationists have noted that the tower would ‘stand on the site of a 13th-century fortification and a 17th-century fortress, which were uncovered during archeological excavations in the past three years.’  Be it fortress ruins or Okhta center – one of them looks likely to end up in the dustbin of history.