ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — A Kremlin plan to turn a St. Petersburg hospital that specializes in treating children with cancer into a medical center for Russia’s top judges was shelved Wednesday, marking a rare occasion when the government appeared to bow to public pressure.
The intention to turn City Hospital No. 31 into a clinic that would exclusively serve judges and staff of the Supreme Court and other high courts when they are relocated to St. Petersburg from Moscow caused widespread public dismay.
More than 100,000 people signed a petition to President Vladimir Putin, a city native, urging him to scrap the plan.Among those who signed were prominent figures from the worlds of art and sciences, including physicist Zhores Alfyorov, a Nobel Prize winner who is a member of Russia’s parliament.
On Wednesday, the St. Petersburg governor’s office said the hospital would continue to serve patients and insisted there was no plan to change its location or profile. The Kremlin’s property department also issued assurances that the hospital, on prestigious Krestovsky Island, would not be used to serve judges of the top courts.
Even so, about 1,500 people took part in a planned evening protest, with some saying they did not trust officials not to go back on their word.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 01/24/2013