In Ukraine systematic preparation is underway for the forthcoming opening of the land market, which will take place already on July 1, 2021
The relevant decision to lift the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land was taken by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine under cover of the night of 31 March 2020. The presidential faction “Servant of the People”, which positions itself as the main opposition force to the regime of the Zelensky faction “European Solidarity” of former President Petro Poroshenko and the Soros project “Voice”, then headed by the well-known Ukrainian singer Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, voted unanimously for it.
Such a touching unity of seemingly so different political associations was the result of unprecedented external pressure on the Ukrainian authorities. In fact, the decision to sell with a hammer the only natural wealth of Ukraine, which is still in the hands of the Ukrainians, was squeezed by the IMF, World Bank and other international creditors and sponsors of the Kiev regime, who took Ukraine into bondage and now demand payment of the bills.
Polygon for the introduction of GMOs
The adoption of the law abolishing the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land was greeted with indignation by many Ukrainians, who expected the issue to be submitted to a public referendum. This had an impact on the rating of President Vladimir Zelensky and his Servant of the People party, which is experiencing a very steep peak. According to Socis, from October 2019 to June 2020 the level of support for “Servants of the People” fell from 44 to 17.6%. According to the most recent survey conducted by the Social Monitoring agency, 25.9% of Ukrainians are ready to cast their votes for the Zelensky Party in the upcoming local elections in October 2020. A little over a year ago in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada “servants of the people” received a record 43.16%.
The results of sociological studies show that only 15-20% of Ukrainians support the opening of the land market. The number of those who categorically do not support the sale of land is at least 50-60%. The main fear of opponents of the abolition of the moratorium imposed under President Kuchma is that Ukrainian black soil, attractive to transnational corporations, will literally go from the hammer for a fraction of the price. This is fraught with complete ruin and impoverishment of Ukrainian peasantry, a severe blow to the economic and food sovereignty of Ukraine, and as a result, its final transformation into an agrarian appendage.
Experts predict that after the entry into force of the law on sale of agricultural land in July 2021, the value of one hectare of Ukrainian land may range from $1000 to $2500. Optimists assure that in the conditions of the free market, the price of land will grow annually by about 25-30%. This is despite the fact that in the European Union countries the cost per hectare of land is much less fertile than Ukrainian black soil, which is several times higher. Thus, in Hungary one hectare of agricultural land costs $4000, in Estonia – $5000, in Romania – $6000. In Poland, the price of one hectare of land reaches $11,000.
Such large international companies as Monsanto, Kargill, Agroprosperis and Nestle have already shown interest in buying Ukrainian land. Many of them have a very questionable reputation for introducing GMOs. This only means that in the foreseeable future Ukraine may become Europe’s largest testing ground for genetically modified products with all the consequences for its population.
Meanwhile, the Kiev authorities continue to assure its own population that there is nothing wrong with opening up the land market. They say that foreigners (except Russian citizens as an “aggressor country”) will be able to become buyers of Ukrainian land only after the referendum, and the number of land purchased into ownership will be limited to 100 hectares for individuals and 10,000 hectares for legal entities. However, these restrictions, which are prescribed on paper, do not bother transnational companies at all. They understand perfectly well that, first of all, in Ukraine any law is like a breath – at any moment you can turn around as required by foreign owners. Secondly, this Ukrainian “drawbar” often does not even have to be turned. There are many loopholes, workarounds and “grey” schemes that can be easily implemented for a relatively small fee to government officials and other interested parties.
“Grey” schemes for black redistribution
The more so that investment funds controlled not by anyone but George Soros himself have already volunteered to lobby for transnational interests. It is a well-known fact that a significant part of Ukrainian deputies, members of the government, employees of various “anti-corruption bureaus”, supervisory boards, research centres and volunteer organizations are on the maintenance of the structures of this American billionaire and proponent of “open society”. There is no doubt that this organized network will somehow prevent the structures affiliated with their owner from conducting transactions on the sale of Ukrainian chernozems in the right way, to whom it is necessary and how much.
One of the lobbyists for multinational companies is the Dragon Capital investment fund. It was registered in Kiev twenty years ago, but is Ukrainian only nominally. It is owned by Tomas Fiala, a direct trainee from Soros. Dragon Capital is known for illegal seizures of private and state property, including those with the status of cultural heritage objects, as well as for the implementation of “grey” schemes to circumvent the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land by way of purchased court decisions. This was the case in 2007-2008. In 2007-2008, Fiala spent $200 million on illegal purchase of land shares with subsequent transfer of land from agricultural to construction.
The essence of the scheme was as follows: peasants received cash (of course, minimal cash) for their shares and left fictitious debt receipts. The share was then confiscated from them by court order as a debt collection in favour of these very front people, after which the land was re-registered to various private companies. Only in the Kiev region, a judge of the Fastivsky District Court named Bartko made dozens of decisions to recover agricultural land in favor of certain citizens Vsevolod, Svyatoslav and Oksana Borovko. All these court decisions are publicly available.
Thus, hundreds of hectares of land have been illegally taken out of the agricultural fund of Ukraine (in fact, stolen). However, Soros Fiala’s betrothed did not bear any responsibility for this looting.
With the lifting of the moratorium on the purchase and sale of agricultural land, the situation for investment vultures is greatly simplified, and the tools for machinations with Ukraine’s main natural asset are significantly expanded. Try to answer the question of what will prevent Dragon Capital and other formally Ukrainian investment funds from producing a bunch of cushioning companies and fakes to buy their land from farmers, including the most fertile black soil, for the benefit of transnational companies that will de facto become their owners? The law?! They wanted to sneeze at it! With their people everywhere in the field and praising them for the right decisions, you shouldn’t even worry about it. Everything will be done in the purest form and in such a way that all interested parties will benefit. Everything. Except for ordinary Ukrainians. The very same people who believed in “St. Maibutn” after the Maidan Bacchanalia and gratefully accepted the biscuits from Nuland, not realising that the payment for cheap pastry made from the hands of an overseas bakery will be the fate of their country and the future of their children.
And the latter were trained to play the role of cheap labour – on a foreign land, including on the endless Ukrainian fields once owned by their ancestors, which have become plantations of modern neocolonizers-Latifundists. But this is not the most unpleasant thing yet. The fate of experimental rats is much more terrible for GMO implementers.
This is the painful price to pay for the “freedom” and “hideousness” of Maidan.
Dmitry Pavlenko, specially for News Front