The Russian Constitutional Court has completed a relocation from Moscow to St. Petersburg in the first move of Russian authorities aimed to relieve Moscow from the capital city burden and to give additional impetus to development in the regions. All court members agreed to move to the new place of work, where they received detached houses on the state's expense.

Officially, the new law on the Constitutional Court came into force on May 21. According to it, the address of Russia's top court instance is St. Petersburg, Decembrists Square, 1 - the historical Senate and Synod building which is undergoing major renovation for the purpose.

The repairs' budget was reported as about 5 billion rubles ($212 million). They started in 2006 and will be fully completed by December 2008. Special equipment is now being installed in the building which will allow to show the court session by direct video links with Moscow.

The old Constitutional Court building in Moscow will house a representation office - it will be smaller so it will occupy just a part of the building and the rest of the space will be taken by Presidential Administration and the Federal Bodyguard Service.

All 19 members of the court agreed to work in St. Petersburg and went to live their with their families. The city authorities have built a special fenced community on the Krestovsky Island - a prestigious St. Petersburg district that houses residences of top regional officials. The community consists of fully equipped detached houses and has a GP clinic and an industrial laundry with attached baths.

The price of relocation was reported as 221 million rubles (under $10 million)

However, the staff of the court had to be dismissed almost in full - of 200 auxilary workers only 60 agreed to move to another city. The head of the court, Valery Zorkin, publicly regretted this fact in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio. "We have unique analysts with outstanding qualities. One must learn to master his skills in this field and this takes years. Unfortunately, not all of them could relocate."

To fill the vacancies, the Court hired many new staff members - from St. Petersburg and also from other Russian cities, such as Omsk and Yekaterinburg. The staff members will also receive state housing in a specially erected apartment block in a residential district of the city.

The first session of the Constitutional Court in St. Petersburg was scheduled on May 22, but earlier this month the court plenum postponed the session. The officials did not disclosed the reasons but most probably the relocation is taking longer than it had been initially planned. On Tuesday, the court's press service reported that the first session will be held on May 27.