Residents of the Sadgorod district near Vladivostok received letters from the Ministry of Defense stating that the department intends to challenge their ownership of land in court. There have been private residential buildings, including expensive cottages, for many years.
The Ministry of Defense cites documents dated 1932 and 1939 as the basis for claims to the court. They talk about the belonging of the land to the military department. About 300 families fear that they may lose their homes and property.
Primorsky Territory Governor Oleg Kozhemyako said today that the authorities are dealing with this problem. At the same time, the owners began to send their complaints to the local authorities in the fall. Here is what they said in an appeal that was circulated the day before by the local news agency Deita.ru:
The Governor of Primorye in his telegram channel announced a meeting with the residents of Sadgorod and promised to send its results by letter to the Ministry of Defense for clarification. He also said that the regional administration would “defend the legitimate interests of fellow countrymen.” “If people legally acquired plots, received them within the framework of state programs, built houses or inherited them, of course, we will protect their rights,” Oleg Kozhemyako added.
The mayor’s office of Vladivostok adheres to approximately the same position, but there is still no answer from the Ministry of Defense, Andrey Ostrovsky, a journalist from Vladivostok, told Business FM:
“The claims from a certain Khabarovsk structural unit of the Eastern Military District were received in late summer – early autumn last year. Yes, indeed, most of the territory in question is built up with cottages, quite expensive, but not all. The main problem is that Vladivostok is located on the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, behind Vladivostok is Russky Island. Throughout the entire territory of the peninsula and on Russky Island, the main landowner is the Ministry of Defense represented by the military forestry. In recent years, some plots of land have been allocated, the Ministry of Defense is refusing something, something is being transferred to civilian land, being built up. This lawsuit, which is based on documents from 1939 and 1932, makes you think, maybe there is also a FEFU campus, which was also built on the former land of the Ministry of Defense, what if they change their mind and say: you know, this is actually our land. In fact, it is so. And everything that is in Vladivostok and around it is the land of the military forestry of the Ministry of Defense. This claim is very strange. How can one today rely on the documents of 1939, after what the president said: turning to the East, the Far East is a priority in the development of the country for the 21st century. It seems to me that in this regard, the governor’s reaction is absolutely adequate, he took the side not of the Ministry of Defense, but of the people. There are a lot of divisions in the Ministry of Defense, a lot of long-range companies scattered across the territory, I fully admit that the Eastern Military District is solving their problems, maybe something is missing, I don’t know what.
The Investigative Committee for Primorye decided to check this information and conduct a pre-investigation check on the fact of negligence. Investigators are looking into the details of what happened. The ministry’s press service said in a statement that an inspection was organized “on violation of the rights of citizens in the issuance of land plots, including within the framework of regional social programs.” Business FM radio station sent a request to the Ministry of Defense.
