A farmer named Khrebtov lives in the republic of Altai. He had always worked on 16 hectares of land, but for the past three years the government refused to renew the rental agreement for his plot of land. Khrebtov needed a stacking machine for his farm to gather hay, but when the authorities did not renew the rental agreement on his land, he was left with no collateral and was unable to get a loan from the bank.
Only after Khrebtov slashed his wrists did he finally receive funding for his stacking machine. There is another farmer in Altai named Onishchenko who has a sawmill and almost 4 hectares of land on the banks of a river. A few years ago, a top official told Onishchenko that he had no legal rights to his land. But Onishchenko found out on the Internet that land plots were being sold only 500 meters from his own plot for 4.5 million rubles ($143,000). He sued the authorities and won. When Onishchenko spoke with me, he sighed and said, “I spent so much time and money on that lawsuit. I could have built a banya or hotel for tourists with that money.”
Read Full Article »