KIEV, September 25. /TASS/. Ukrainian officials are working on a bill that would empower them to seize land plots owned by Russian legal entities or individuals, Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky said on Wednesday commenting on a new land market bill.
"The draft law stipulates that during the registration, any company or individual buyer must undergo checks into the origin of the beneficiaries. Besides, landowners will be audited on a permanent basis <...> If during this monitoring, it emerges that any Russian citizen or Russian company had purchased Ukrainian land, this land plot will be seized," Vysotsky told Liga.net news portal.
The deputy minister stressed that the land would be taken over by the Ukrainian state.
On September 20, Ukraine’s Ministry for Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture published a draft law on lifting the country's sales ban of agricultural land starting from October 1, 2020. Under the bill, Ukrainian citizens and legal entities, territorial communities and the state could buy these land plots. Meanwhile, the bill says that legal entities and individuals and foreign states, which have been targeted by sanctions would be deprived of the right to buy this land.
Previously, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had ordered the Ukrainian parliament, known as the Verkhovna Rada, to pass a bill by December 1 on creating an agricultural land market and on lifting the moratorium of its sale.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Alexei Goncharuk said Ukraine’s land reform, which the new government is working on right now, would stipulate that foreigners could buy agricultural land but only if the legal entity is registered in Ukraine and they pay taxes into the country’s coffers. The premier claimed that 25 various scenarios for opening up the land market had been drawn up jointly with the World Bank, and the key goal was to achieve the best economic outcome.