The Yabloko faction has introduced over 300 amendments into the draft Land Code, which will be examined by the State Duma in second reading on July 14, 2001.

The Yabloko faction supported the draft in the first reading as a fundamentally important step towards a civilised system of relationships in the use of land.

At the same time, the deputies of the faction think that the adoption on the Land Code in its present drafting could lead to another extreme – privatisation of land according to the oligarchic model. The draft code adopted in first reading grants excessive rights to bureaucracy, creates grounds for arbitrary bureaucratic rule, monopolistic collusion between the authorities and the new land oligarchs, corruption, and infringement of the rights of the majority of the citizens.

The amendments proposed by Yabloko are aimed at the following goals:

- creation of clear and transparent procedures for the transfer of land plots to private property; moreover these procedures should be available to every citizen;

- awarding ownership rights to land on a competitive basis only, limiting the opportunities for arbitrary bureaucratic rule and corruption;

- guarantees of the rights of the present holders of plots of land and constructions during the transfer of land into their ownership, limiting the possibilities for the non-judicial seizure of land plots.

"The present system of the state-feudal latifundia must not be replaced with the rule of new large land-owners represented by land oligarchs. "Privatisation on the Chubais model" should not be allowed in this sphere," said one of the authors of Yabloko's amendments, Sergei Mitrokhin, Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Local Government.

According to Mitrokhin, the Land Code should "stimulate the transfer of land to medium and small-scale owners, above all those who are ready to productively use land, rather than facilitate the concentration of land in the hands of a few large owners."

"Our goal is not privatisation of land, but the creation of a broad layer of land owners; the formation of this layer is of great importance not only for the development of Russia's economy, but also for the creation of a powerful middle class in Russia," stressed Sergei Mitrokhin.

See also:

The Land Code