Last week, the Security Service of Ukraine reported suspicions to officials of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, who, according to the SBU, " “Among the exposed frauds are illegal registrations of objects that violate state building codes, as well as a scheme for issuing fake certificates of professional attestation of architects. At the same time, anyone could be made an “architect,” the SBU emphasizes..

NSAU leaders today gave a press conference where they commented on the actions of the security forces and answered questions from journalists, including ZN. U.A..

The National Union of Architects of Ukraine, as a self-regulatory organization, implements delegated powers. Its head Alexander Chizhevsky clarified once again: “We are talking about certification of architects, advanced training, as well as maintaining a professional register. In the spring of 2022, the Ministry of Regional Development officially extended the delegated powers in the field of design to guilds. Since the NSAU has been exercising these powers for the last ten years (NSAU and its Architectural Chamber unite more than 5,180 architects and have a century-old history - ed.. ), and according to the procedure there is no prohibition document, the union continued its work "

Consequently, all the accusations of the security forces are related solely to the fact that the NSAU continued to carry out its usual powers in the regular mode.. Which, given the right to certify architects, would be absolutely legal.

But did the NSAU have such a right?

“According to the law and the procedure for delegating powers in the field of urban planning, approved by order of the Ministry of Regional Development, the powers of a delegated self-governing organization are indefinite,” explained NSAU lawyer Yaroslav Yatsenko. - And no installation of them for a certain period is provided. But a procedure is provided for the termination of these powers on the basis of an order of the Ministry of Regional Development, which must be entered into the Unified State Electronic System, after which the electronic signature is automatically canceled. In this case, no decisions were made to terminate the delegated powers of the NSAU as a self-regulatory organization by the Ministry of Regional Development"

Moreover, according to Chizhevsky, the NSAU did not receive any official notifications from the authorities and the Ministry of Regional Development.. “We have always tried to cooperate with the relevant ministry,” says the head of the NSAU. - I was at the reception of Minister Chernyshev, and he assured me that there was no problem. But then something prevented him from communicating with us, and he signed the order, extending the powers of the guilds. Delicately forgetting about the NSAU. Which, however, does not change the norms of the laws by which the NSAU was guided in its actions"

Therefore, in August 2022, through the qualified electronic signature of the secretary of the attestation architectural and construction commission, the NSAU actually entered the Unified State Electronic System in the field of construction and made appropriate changes there.. Namely, information about the certification of 25 architects. And he deleted information about a number of architects from the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, who have not confirmed their qualifications twice. In addition, they have already gained membership in the unions of Russia.

When asked if there was possibly any unofficial information or threats (about which architects are actively talking among themselves) to deprive the union of the right to certify architects and whether the investigators of the SBU, the National Police and the OGPU are aware of these facts, the deputy chairman of the NSAU Architectural Chamber answered.

“We heard something similar to threats at a meeting of the profile committee of the Verkhovna Rada in December 2021 - there are corresponding audio recordings - when the head of the profile subcommittee Elena Shulyak and Deputy Minister Natalia Kozlovskaya made statements that it was necessary to involve the law enforcement committee in some kind of investigation into. There are also examples from other events where there were remarks that the NSAU would lose the right to certify architects. We heard this and honestly told our colleagues in the union: if we do not shut up about bill 5655, we will be destroyed. But the architects voted to continue the fight. And this time it was not Elena Shulyak and Natalya Kozlovskaya who came to us, but the SBU, the National Police and the OGPU”.

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It is obvious that the authorities today use the method of direct discrediting of the NSAU, but the publication of the details of the investigation by the SBU also falls into the ground of sometimes objective claims against architects involved in the corruption schemes of officials. To the request to share the current principled position of the National Union of Architects under Law 5655 with the real problems in the field, which should also be addressed, the head of the National Union of Architects Chizhevsky answered:.

“The real problems in the industry are, were and will be. We are an evolving society. In any society, there are interests of people by place of residence, belonging to social groups, etc.. And urban problems are the problems of our life and environment. Law 5655, having another law for large developers and oligarchic structures, increases the number of these problems.. And we see it and talk about it, trying to model the right system for the people and communities that should have a say in development and restoration.. Therefore, it is not only the working conditions of architects, for which we are now also fighting.

Moreover, it is important to understand here that the architect does not have much opportunity to engage in corruption.. On the contrary, we defend such things in the law so that the architect can work exclusively within the framework of the law.. Because the customer and his lawyers will always squeeze the maximum out of the architect. Now is not the time to say that architects need to clean their uniforms - our professional community does not have them dirty. You can argue in some individual cases, but often the customer receives such urban planning conditions for himself that the architect is forced to design 18 floors. Therefore, architects are not subjects of corruption schemes”.

Recall that last year, people's deputies did not heed the calls of the public and still voted in general for the scandalous bill 5655. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has not yet signed the document, although the 15 days specified by the Constitution have already passed. This saves the chance of a veto.

Manipulative law 5655 does not provide effective mechanisms for the demolition of unauthorized construction, checks the legality of construction and creates other corruption risks through new permitting mechanisms. Georgy Mogilny, an urban planning expert, analyzed in more detail how the document on urban planning reform affects the rights of territorial communities, provides counteraction to illegal construction and corruption in the article “Divide and Conquer”. Why, in the battle for the reform of urban planning, they became enemies of the village and the city”.