Moscow authorities to give extra space for mosque construction

The Moscow governmental commission for urban planning has recommended demolition of a 1996-constructed building near the mosque on Vypolzov Avenue, Salam News reports.

The area is needed for construction of the Cathedral Mosque.
Andrey Batalov, an expert of the working group of the commission, said that the building had no value, unlike the mosque that had been taken down.
Andrey Trofimov, a supervisor of the construction, said that the Moscow Cathedral Mosque had opened in 1904 and had been the Muslim center of the European part of Russia. The Muslim Administration of the European Part of Russia stands next to it.
Expansion of the Cathedral Mosque will allow thousands of people to pray.Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin had said earlier that no expansion of the area for the mosque had been planned.