Communists seek to expand free land program in Russia

Sergey Obukhov, Russian Communist Party MP has proposed applying the recently approved state program of free handover of land not only to the Russian Far East, but also to much larger territories in Siberia, Russia Today (RT) reports.

He said, “If the government bill on free land handover has been signed into law, we suggest that it should be expanded to the territory of Siberia already today. These two macro-regions must become pilot grounds and the collected experience could be later used on the whole territory of our country,” RT cited RIA Novosti news.

“One of the possible ways to restart the cultivation on unused lands is to give these lands top citizens who want to work in agriculture. I assure you, we will find enough of them,” he added.

According to Obukhov’s estimates, the total area of unused agricultural land in Russia currently exceeds 40 million hectares.

Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a law giving Russians free land in the Far East regions of the country. According to law, Russian citizens will able to apply for up to hectare of land in the regions of Kamchatka, Sakha-Yakutia, Khabarovsk, Amur, Primorye, Magadan, Sakhalin, the Jewish Autonomous Region and Chukotka.