"Someone liked the plot": In Sevastopol, plots of land are being confiscated from Ukrainian owners

In Sevastopol, the Russian prosecutor's office has begun the process of expropriation of land parcels owned by citizens of Ukraine, who no longer reside in the city. The expropriation is done in favor of the city of Sevastopol. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree three years ago banning foreigners from owning land in border areas, which Russian authorities include in occupied Crimea.
As is known, the "Great Combinator" knew "four hundred relatively honest ways of stealing money from the population." The Russian authorities of Sevastopol, with the same inclination, engaged in the confiscation of properties of Ukrainian owners. Officials and law enforcement officers were guided by a decree signed by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in March 2020, according to which the largest part of the territory of the Crimean district was included in the list of border territories, where foreigners cannot own land. And the Russian authorities in Crimea consider citizens of Ukraine, who live in the continental part of the country, to be foreigners.
The regulation entered into force in March 2021, and until then "foreigners" had to transfer property rights to other persons - gift or sell plots of land to holders of Russian passports.
Rosreestr then stated that "if foreigners have not transferred the right to land within the established deadlines, such property, according to a court decision made at the request of the authority, is subject to forced sale. The collected amount will be transferred either to the former owner, or to state or municipal property with compensation to the former owner in the value of the property determined by the court."

The first swallow?

Recently, the Russian Prosecutor's Office of the Balaklava district of Sevastopol reported that it had identified a process that was subject to "alienation". That is, they will confiscate someone's property.
"It was established that within the framework of the association "Škuna" in the Balaklava district there is land, whose owner of half of the plot cannot possess the property right on the land in Sevastopol. Contrary to the requirements of the current land legislation, the man did not make a voluntary alienation within the established period. In this regard, the prosecution took measures to protect the interests of society and the state in court. The district prosecutor sent a lawsuit to the Balaklava District Court in Sevastopol to impose an obligation on the owner of half of the plot to alienate it, which was granted," the press release states.
Previously, there were no such reports in the local media, although there were thousands of landowners from mainland Ukraine in Sevastopol, there were only 16 such people in a small summer cooperative.
Sevreestr reported in April 2020 that almost 2,300 land plots on the territory of Sevastopol "belong to foreign citizens".
"The unified state register of real estate contains data on 2,287 land plots owned by foreign citizens on the territory of the federal city of Sevastopol. Representatives of 29 countries are included in the number of plot owners," the report states.
Most plots belonged to citizens of Ukraine - 1,875, followed by citizens of Kazakhstan - 129, Belarusians - 60, Germans - 44, Moldovans - 42. Landowners from the USA, Great Britain, European Union countries, Baltic countries and CIS are also on the list.
As stated in Sevreestre, the list includes only those plots that are registered in accordance with the Russian federal law of 13.7.2015. no. 218-FZ "On state registration of real estate".

They will take away the land, and what next?

Zadruga Dača or, as it is now called in Russian, TSN "Škuna", is located next to the famous "Czarski selo" - TSN "Fiolent".
The association was formed in the 1990s, plots in it were mainly given to soldiers and pensioners of the Black Sea Fleet. During the 2000s, when the business was a little stagnant, land buyers flocked to the warm Black Sea, so people from all over Ukraine appeared among the summer residents.
Many of them sold plots of land with houses immediately after the annexation of Crimea, when a wave of migration to the peninsula began in neighboring Russia. Others transferred real estate to Crimean relatives who had such property. But there were those who were still owners.
Paid membership fees, taking advantage of opportunities or coming in person once an hour.
Among them are those who did not transfer their properties after Putin's decree. This is what the president of the cooperative is talking about.
"I informed everyone via messenger, but first there was COVID, then "SVO" (that's how the Russian authorities call the war against Ukraine - KR). So they couldn't come personally to solve the problems," he said.
"I don't know why they started to "alienate" the land, but I guess so," military pensioner Viktor Aleksejevic, also a member of the cooperative, joins the conversation with the president. "There are special plots there, not far from the cliff, and the cooperative is old, all communications are there. That's right, someone liked the plot."

It is still unclear what the Russians will do with these plots, stolen from their legal owners? Sell? So, now it is impossible to sell an apartment or land in Sevastopol - there is almost no demand, and the Russians have flooded the market with their ads. If they hope that someone from Sevastopol will buy it cheaply, then one of the neighbors, or the chairman himself, will tell them: "Don't take it, it's stolen, the legal owner is on this land."
International lawyers claim that the decree of the President of Russia is illegal and that it violates the norms of international law, especially the provisions of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights.

"According to the legislation of Ukraine and the practice of the European Court, Ukrainians will continue to be considered the owners of these plots of land. In itself, coercion, even to sell a plot of land, represents an interference with private property rights," lawyer Sergej Zaets explained earlier in a comment for Krym.Realii.

The only thing that changes is that they become victims of a criminal act and that in the future they can claim compensation and the return of this property.