June 04, 2026

Forward, to the Renovation of Moscow!


Forward, to the Renovation of Moscow!
Moscow’s massive redesign topples Soviet legacies, creating a sleek, Western-style facade. The RussianLife files.

In Moscow, 24 Soviet-era housing complexes have been emptied of their occupants and demolished. Thousands of long-term residents are being relocated to the city’s periphery, and more than a million others could follow, as old housing stock is cleared to make way for sleek, contemporary highrises.

By 2023, the Moscow Urban Renewal Initiative will modernize Moscow’s skyline and bring it out from under a Soviet shadow, while also addressing the infrastructural (and aesthetic) needs of contemporary citizens. The program's main targets for demolition are five-story khrushchyovki: standardized houses introduced in the late 1950s, typically built from precast concrete components and of notoriously low-quality.

Large-scale demolition of aging mass housing has been in the works for nearly a decade. Announced in 2017, the renovation has already provided some 250,000 Muscovites with new housing. An estimated 1.5 million live in other buildings awaiting destruction and rebuilding.

As part of the relocation, residents are guaranteed equivalent housing in the same district as the one they previously lived in. However, given that many prime locations are currently occupied by Soviet housing, it is most likely that those residents will be moved to less desirable locations, on the city's outskirts.

Further, the renovation breaks apart neighborhoods that have existed for decades. Once celebrated for their role in addressing the post-war housing crisis and for their overall efforts in raising Soviet living standards, khrushchyovki are now an eyesore to be scraped from Moscow’s face. Today, the buildings have a reputation for looking run-down and botched after haphazard post-Soviet remodeling trends.

Despite their generic nature, some see value in Soviet mass housing. In 2013, architect and researcher Kuba Snopek called on UNESCO to add the capital's Belyayevo District to the World Heritage List. Others experience the houses first as beloved family homes, arguing that the buildings should be renovated rather than simply demolished.

Deputy Mayor Vladimir Efimov conveniently does not state the number of persons resettled from the 24 sites that were vacated so far in 2026. Ineffective protests sprung up during the project's development.

You Might Also Like

Fight for an Apartment
  • February 11, 2026

Fight for an Apartment

Russian orphans have to fight in the war to access apartments they are legally entitled to.
Property Lost, Entry Denied
  • December 02, 2025

Property Lost, Entry Denied

Thousands of Ukrainians are having their homes in Mariupol stolen from them by the Russian state.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955