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Putin instructs cabinet to spread free port regime to airports of Russia’s Far East

Putin also instructed the government to ensure subsidies to make availability of air transportation of passengers from the Far East to the European part of the country

MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to extend the regime of the free port of Vladivostok to the international air harbors of the Far Eastern Federal District, according to the list of instructions of the head of the state published on the Kremlin's website.

"The government of the Russian Federation should make amendments to the legislation providing for ... the extension of the Vladivostok free port regime on the territory of international airports in the Far Eastern Federal District," the document says. The deadline for execution of the order is December 31 of 2017.

Putin also instructed the cabinet to ensure the mechanism in the legislation that will enable the authorities of the region to provide tax benefits to investors "within the limits of the amounts they spent on construction and equipment of social infrastructure facilities in the Far Eastern Federal District."

The law on Free Port of Vladivostok came into force on October 12, 2015. It provides for the establishing of a new special economic zone embracing 16 municipalities in the south of Primorsky Krai, and some areas of the Khabarovsk, Kamchatka and Chukotka regions.

Subsidies for air travel and cars

The president also instructed the government to ensure subsidies to make availability of air transportation of passengers from the Far East to the European part of the country and back. For this purpose the cabinet should use additional funds from the budget in 2018.

Extra funds should be also allocated to provide subsidies for transportation of cars produced in the Far East to other regions of Russia. In addition to this the construction of new border crossing points in the territory of the Far East should be financed as a matter of priority.

Far Eastern hectare program

Putin instructed the government to study the possibility of granting land plots in accordance with the law on the Far Eastern hectare to the participants of the state program to promote the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad to Russia.

The government should also work on simplification of the procedure for attracting foreign workers to the territories of advanced development and the free port of Vladivostok.

The Law on the Far Eastern Hectare came into force from June 1, 2016. From February 1, 2017, every Russian citizen is entitled to choose a plot of land in any of the regions of Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District. For this purpose, Russia has set up a federal information web portal allowing Russian citizens to file an application for a Far Eastern hectare without any bureaucratic delays.

A Russian citizen can do this at home, in any part of the world through the Internet or by applying to a local multifunctional municipal center. According to data of the Far Eastern Hectare program’s website, almost 4,200 land plots covering an area of about 3,900 hectares have been allotted since the law came into force.