Earth for the secret services!

On May 16, Vladimir Putin's decree was promulgated, according to which the Federal Security Service is now vested with the right to seize land plots and real estate located on them for state needs.

From the explanatory note to the draft decree, which was prepared by the secret service itself back in August last year, it follows that the FSB does not seem to intend to immediately take away land plots and houses of citizens, and it needs the right to such a seizure just in case, so to speak, in reserve . After all, her duties include the arrangement of the state border, including the creation of some special zones near it. Meanwhile, the authors of the note note, “on the land section of the State Border of the Russian Federation, work has not been completed on its international legal registration with Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, the State Border of the Russian Federation with Estonia, Belarus, Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia". That is, the border line can change, and with it the configuration of special zones controlled by the FSB will also change. Therefore, the border guards belonging to the FSB needed the right to withdraw.

What is alarming, however, is that a little earlier, in March, the president gave the same rights to the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Defense. Each department found its own reasons for taking someone else's property. In the era of Putin's rule, the final division of the most profitable pieces of the Soviet legacy took place - enterprises in the oil and gas sector, metallurgy, and the chemical industry. And now, it seems, the bureaucratic clans, which have long turned into economic corporations, without saying a word, turned their eyes to another source of profit - land.

But in order to start extracting this very profit, it is necessary to free the allotments from the “wrong” owners. We tried it in Sochi, adopting special legislation due to the Olympic Games. Then it happened. Two and a half thousand owners lost their houses and land. And potential beneficiaries decided not to limit themselves to unnecessary conventions and procedures (as a result of which, I note, the circle of beneficiaries inevitably increases), such as a mandatory government decision. Under the pretext of ridding the government of unnecessary powers, the most influential departments (mainly the security forces) immediately took advantage of the opportunity. Now, only the decision of the head of the department is enough to seize someone else's property.

Lawyers draw attention to the fact that in the decree on the new powers of the FSB there are no references to the need for future development of borders. It only says that the secret service "makes decisions within its powers on the seizure of land plots and (or) real estate objects located on them for the state needs of the Russian Federation." This formulation opens up rich prospects for those who decide to take advantage of it. Lawyer Vsevolod Sazonov notes: “You can justify for any site why it is necessary to fulfill the goals of the FSO or FSB. There is no clear list of grounds on which these sites are confiscated. They may not disclose information for what specific needs, because this information is classified.”

That is, the FSB now does not even need to invent reasons for seizing someone else's property, it is enough to refer to state interests shrouded in mystery. The obtained powers open absolutely amazing prospects for the special service. After all, the decree does not say that special security zones are created only in the border area.

Considering that the center of Moscow is overflowing with the most secret defense research institutes and institutions, it is easy to imagine how, under the pretext of “ensuring security”, the FSB will set out to create some kind of special zone around protected objects and begin to seize real estate or take money for non-confiscation.