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Moscow closes biggest wholesale market forever

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-27 14:11

MOSCOW: The existence of the closed Cherkizovsky Market in northeast Moscow has been legally terminated, as it has been expelled by the Moscow municipal government from the list of the local retail markets, Russian media said Monday.

The decision has thus dispelled the rumors about a market reconstruction on the original site, said the Itar-Tass news agency.

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According to Moscow's eastern administrative region, all the architectures and vendor's stands at Moscow's biggest wholesale market were currently being removed.

In the future resident buildings, student dormitories, stadiums and three economic and trade centers will be built at the site.

A fire broke out at the market on early October 17, destroying daily products stored in a 1,000-square-meter warehouse. The cause of the blaze remains undetermined.

Russian police abruptly shut down Cherkizovsky Market on June 29 after disclosures of illegal and irregular operations by the Russian Federal Supervision Service for Consumer Rights Protection and People Welfare.

The market accommodated thousands of Chinese vendors. About 150 Chinese merchants and a large quantity of their goods were seized in a crackdown on smuggling at the market.

A senior Chinese delegation, led by Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng, reached broad consensus with the Russian side on the closure issue in late July.