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Land grant: Govt drafts bill for ‘1-hectare per Russian’ in Far East
Published time: 17 Nov, 2015 10:16

https://www.rt.com/politics/322404-government-drafts-bill-on-free/

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the cabinet to draft the
bill allowing every Russian citizen to get 1 hectare land plot in the Far
East for free on condition that the land would not be passed on or rented
to foreigners.

The PM ordered the development of a special web service that would allow
Russians to get all the necessary papers confirming their property rights
remotely and with a minimum of red tape. The plots will be divided from
land that’s currently federal and municipal property.

The explanations to the bill, released on the government website on
Tuesday, say Russian authorities expect the free land handover to attract
more people to the Far East Federal District, to slow or stop the outward
migration of locals and boost the socio-economic development of the
territory.
The Fair Russia party has prepared a bill proposing the free handout of 1
hectare land plots to all citizens, claiming that such a measure would
increase the strength of the middle class in the country, help agriculture
and the development of unpopulated regions.

The bill was drafted Tuesday by the head of the Fair Russia parliamentary
caucus, Sergey Mironov, and MP Oleg Nilov of the same party. The current
version of the document allows certain categories of citizens, such as
families with many children, disabled persons and people whose profession
includes hard physical labor to receive 1 hectare (2.47 acres) of free land
from the state to build a home and start a farm for personal use or a
commercial agricultural enterprise.

At the same time, some categories of citizens, such as convicts who have
not served their sentences and all people convicted of corruption crimes
would not be allowed to participate in the program.

READ MORE: Homestead Act for Russian Far East – Putin supports free land
handout <https://www.rt.com/politics/224099-russia-land-free-east/>

According to the bill, the land will be first granted for free use for a
period of five years. After that, state bodies will check if the plot is
used for the declared purposes and allow prolongation of its free use or
make it the homeowner’s permanent property.
In comments to the media, Mironov said that he hoped that the measure would
help millions of Russians to turn to agriculture and also solve the problem
of repopulation of remote areas and the return of abandoned lands to
agricultural production.

Eventually, the new landowners could form the core of the Russian middle
class, he added.

Another benefit of the program was its input into the import replacement
program launched after Russia introduced reciprocal sanctions on
agricultural produce from EU countries.

Oleg Nilov added in comments that the bill could fulfill the Bolsheviks’
promises to give the land to the Russian people, even if it happened a
century after these promises were made. He noted that the free handover of
land plots was very appropriate during the crisis, as it would allow people
to invest their savings and revive the national economy.

READ MORE: Leftists propose free land for poor and distinguished Russians
<https://www.rt.com/politics/227763-russia-free-land-bill/>
MPs representing leftist opposition party Fair Russia have prepared a bill
that, once passed, would allow the government to distribute free land plots
to socially vulnerable citizens and those who deserve an award from the
state.
*Tags*Russia <https://www.rt.com/tags/russia/>, Politics
<https://www.rt.com/tags/politics/>, Law <https://www.rt.com/tags/law/>,
Agriculture <https://www.rt.com/tags/agriculture/>, Opposition
<https://www.rt.com/tags/opposition/>

The motion was presented by the head of the Fair Russia party, Sergey
Mironov, and his deputy, Oleg Nilov. The MPs told Russian mass circulation
daily Izvestia that their main objective was to help the repopulation of
remote and abandoned villages. They also promoted it as an effective
anti-crisis measure.

“*At the moment, people are afraid to keep their money in banks and we give
them an opportunity to invest in land*,” Nilov told the newspaper. “In
addition, we want to create a busy middle class that would not be
interested in politics.”

The bill contains a set of amendments to the Federal Law on Land that make
it legally possible to hand out land plots to certain categories of Russian
citizens for building private homes, farming and commercial agricultural
projects. The landowners will be legally bound to use their plots for one
of the specified purposes and will not be able to sell them on. The maximum
size of the plots is fixed at 1 hectare (about 2.5 acres).

The candidates for receiving free plots fall into 30 different categories
and most of them can be described as distinguished workers and people who
have dedicated themselves to difficult and important professions. These
include miners and steel foundry workers, people who have worked in Arctic
territories, military and police veterans, and teachers. People with state
awards and other distinguished citizens can also receive land plots under
the new bill.

The program will not be applied to convicts who have not yet served their
sentences, and for those who had been convicted of corruption.

Fair Russia’s idea of a “Russian Homestead Act” was not original – in
mid-January the presidential envoy to the Far East Federal District, Yuri
Trutnev, suggested offering large land plots for free
<http://rt.com/politics/224099-russia-land-free-east/> to anyone who
resettled to the Russian Far East to start a farm or other business. The
plan also included the handover of one-hectare plots, a ban on selling the
received land and a five-year trial period.

Trutnev has claimed that his idea received support from President Vladimir
Putin, who called it right in principle and noted that similar programs had
been successfully implemented in Siberia historically.

Fair Russia’s idea of a “Russian Homestead Act” was not original – in
mid-January the presidential envoy to the Far East Federal District, Yuri
Trutnev, suggested offering large land plots for free to anyone who
resettled to the Russian Far East to start a farm or other business. The
plan also included the handover of one-hectare plots, a ban on selling the
received land and a five-year trial period.

However, according to Izvestia daily, the start of the Far East land
handover has been postponed from September 2015 to sometime in 2016.

Leftists propose free land distribution to boost Russia’s middle class
<https://www.rt.com/politics/320634-leftists-propose-free-land-distribution/>

The bill also prohibits any use of land plots received for free by foreign
citizens. It specifically details all types of legal schemes used in real
estate to get around this and bans them – for example actual sale, passing
as a gift, renting out, trust management, free use, etc.

The idea of a ‘Russian Homestead Act’ was first proposed in mid-January
this year by the presidential envoy to the Far East Federal District Yury
Trutnev, who proposed offering large land plots for free to anyone who
resettled to the Russian Far East to start a farm or other business. The
plan also included the handover of one-hectare plots, a ban on selling the
received land and a five-year trial period.

As Trutnev presented his plan to the press, he said President Vladimir
Putin had called the initiative correct in principle and noted that similar
programs had been successfully implemented historically in Siberia. Putin
also urged all responsible officials to be precise and cautious when
detailing the conditions for land ownership.

READ MORE: Homestead Act for Russian Far East – Putin supports free land
handout <https://www.rt.com/politics/224099-russia-land-free-east/>
The Russian president has approved the idea to offer large land plots for
free to anyone who resettles to the Russian Far East to start a farm or
other business.
*Tags*Putin <https://www.rt.com/tags/putin/>, Russia
<https://www.rt.com/tags/russia/>, Politics
<https://www.rt.com/tags/politics/>, Regional development
<https://www.rt.com/tags/regional-development/>, Agriculture
<https://www.rt.com/tags/agriculture/>, Real Estate
<https://www.rt.com/tags/real-estate/>

The initiative was first voiced by the deputy PM and presidential envoy to
the Far East Federal District, Yuri Trutnev, who said that such a step
would “*strengthen the tendency of people’s migration to the Far East*,”
Interfax reported.

Trutnev told reporters that Putin called the idea right in principle and
noted that similar programs had been successfully implemented in Siberia
historically. Putin urged all responsible officials to be precise and
cautious when detailing the conditions for land ownership, however.

Trutnev’s initial suggestion was to “*create a mechanism for the free
allocation of a 1 hectare (2.5 acres) plot of land to every resident of the
Far East and to anyone who is willing to come and live in the region so
that they could start a private business in farming, forestry, game hunting
or some other enterprise*.”

He added that the agreement could be signed for five years, and then it
should either enter full force if the new landlord follows the plan, or be
declared void if the land is not used. He also added that corruption in the
process of distribution can be prevented if the land plots are far from big
cities with their well-developed infrastructure and competitive
environment.

The scheme has been designed to limit the possible selling of the land
plots to foreign companies and individuals, Trutnev said. “*We will give it
a try*,” he said. “*I think this measure will prove to be effective*.”

The Far East Federal District is a huge territory, uniting nine federal
regions with a total area of over 6 million square kilometers. Included in
the Far East are the gold-rich Magadan Region and the diamond-mining
Sakha-Yakutiya republic, as well as important seaports and salmon-rich
rivers. The district borders China by land and Japan and Alaska by sea.

Recently a similar bill was prepared by MPs from the center-left party Fair
Russia, who claimed that a free land handover would increase the strength
of the middle class in the country, help agriculture and the development of
unpopulated regions. However, the leftists’ bill was not limited to the Far
East Federal District and allowed for the handout of land plots throughout
Russia.