According to the Federal Service for State Registration of Russian Federation (Rosreestr), more than 11.5 thousands of land plots in Crimea are the property of foreigners. It was stated by Alexandr Spiridonov, the head of “Rosreestr” of “Republic of Crimea” which is not recognized by the international community.
However, Mr. Spiridonov did not answer the question, being a pivotal one for foreign citizens, who own land plots in Crimea: what will be the future of their property after foreigners are not allowed to own land plots in Crimea?
It should be reminded that on March 20 2020 Vladimir Putin signed the order forbidding foreign citizens and foreign legal persons to own land plots in Crimea, as well in Sevastopol.
The list of owners of land plots in Crimea included the citizens of 55 countries. Among them there are citizens of Ukraine (9747), Belarus (430), Germany (303), Kazakhstan (235), Israel (82), Lithuania (42), Latvia (40), the USA (30) and some number of natural and legal persons from Australia, Vietnam, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
In light of the current situation the foreigners, non-resident companies and persons without citizenship will be forced to alienate the land plots, they own, to other persons, to the state or to the municipal property.
It is still unclear how the order signed by V.Putin correlates with the principle of non-retroactivity of law, because the order covers all land plots and not only those purchased after coming into effect of V.Putin’s order.
In fact, the federal authority of Russia distitles thousands of foreign citizens, forcing to sell land plots to Russian nationals (it is unlikely that foreign citizens would adopt Russian citizenship to save their property in Crimea).
Business has to make choice: to establish new companies according to Russian law (facing international sanctions imposed against Russia) or to stop the business related to the ownership of land plots in the Crimea peninsula.
It is an “alarm signal” for international investors – their property can be taken away at any moment, notwithstanding the universal principle of ownership right, which is not disputed by any country around the world.
Signing the order which forbids foreigners to own land plots in Crimea, Putin should realize the future situation: foreign citizens who lost their property will sue for compensations before international courts. In case of compensation of damages caused by Putin’s order, these compensations will be made from the Russian budget. In case Russia refuses to pay all the damages and compensations – Russian property abroad will be confiscated to cover the specified damages.
It is also worth mentioning that international community does not recognize Crimea as the Russian territory, because it took control over Crimea as a result of military aggression against Ukraine.
Coming into effect of the Russian president’s order, that violates the rights of foreign nationals and deprives them of their property in Crimea, gives their states a serious argument for strengthening sanctions against Russia and, is the best answer to the question whether Russia wants to return to international community.
