On the 20 March the Russian president Vladimir Putin signed the order prohibiting people without citizenship or foreign citizens as well as foreign companies to own land in Crimea and in the city of Sevastopol. Crimea and Sevastopol are frontier territories covered by the abovementioned ban.
Before the annexation by Russia, Crimea was one of the most lucrative regions for investments. Foreign citizens, the EU citizens, in particular, bought lands for winemaking and recreational business. After the annexation, their activity has faced great problems as Crimea is still recognized by the world community as the territory of Ukraine and the Russian documents of title for Crimean lands are void in case of deeds conclusion outside of Russia. Russian officials made the things harder for foreign citizens — foreign citizens are forced to become Russian citizens to keep owning their property (lands and any other real estate). The Russian citizenship in this case seems to be extremely doubtful decision. Along with that, land owners must re-register their property as according to the Russian fiscal legislation the legal status of a tax resident and foreign citizen are completely different.
At the same time, the world community does not recognize any Russian documents issued in Crimea after 2014 as it is the territory of Ukraine. Therefore, even if foreign citizens get Russian citizenship and re-register their land or real estate property according to the Russian law, they will have no chance to sell, to inherit this property or to conduct any legal operation in any other country, only in Russia. F.ex., wine business, registered in Crimea under the Russia law, will never take part in exhibitions, auctions. No retail network will sign any contracts with this company, and shares of this company will never be traded in stock markets. Simply because Russia has never owned Crimea, all its legal documents issued in Crimea are invalid and all legal activities of Russian official bodies in Crimea are illegal.
Putin’s order is an instrument to make those who reside and own the property in Crimea to become the Russian citizens, in particular, the Crimean Tatars, the indigenous people of Crimea. In fact, Putin left them 2 variants: to adopt Russian citizenship or lose their lands. In addition, he facilitated a colonization of the peninsula by Russians.
The order signed by Putin, is just another harsh violation of international law and coercion of foreign citizens to adopt Russian citizenship under the threat of losing their properties legally owned by them. Such actions can not be tolerated because they contradict with the European Convention on Nationality, and such brutal violation gives grounds for tougher sanctions against Russia.
