December 25, 2014. The Russian Duma adopted the law “About the territories of outrunning social and economic development in the Russian Federation”. This law, violating the Russian constitution, gives the Russian government right to lease territories to foreign companies, annulling the rights of Russian owners of their land and property in the territories, and permitting lessors to bring to settle in the territories an unlimited amount of foreign workers.
For three years this law applies only to Russia’s Far East and after three years it spreads to the rest of the country. The law legalizes the process of colonization of Far East and Siberia by China – the latest way chosen by Putin’s government to get getting urgently needed finances.
No official Russian press informed Russians about adoption of this law. The only media source that disclosed the information was the intellectual web site www.Snob.ru, where on 1/5/2015 a blogger Sergei Murashov presented a link to the official governmental legal site and informed readers that Putin had signed this new law.
The Murashov’s post is entitled “ selling out Russia retail”. Less then in the week’s time 126,658 people had read the publication.
Far East of Russia
The colonization of Far East and Siberia by Chinese is a subject that has been discussed in the Russian Internet for a long time. I had already written about it at NewsLanc.
Here is some new information from the Internet:
There are more than 20,000 Chinese enterprises in the Russian Far East and about 70,000 Chinese immigrants live there. Beijing is becoming a key player in this region, which represents great importance for China due to the rich reserves of raw materials.
Crossing the Sino-Russian border through the checkpoint Suyfenhe, located in the northeast of China, one can see the brand new shopping centers full of all kinds of goods and foods located on the Chinese side of the boarder and, in stark contrast with it, the infrastructure of the last century and dilapidated roads on the Russian side.
China is already the key player at the development of the Russian Far East. Its share in the regional gross domestic product is officially 20%.
50% of agricultural products, especially fruits and vegetables, which are sold in the Russian Far East come from China.
In Vladivostok, a port city with a population of 750,000 and the strategically important home of the Russian Pacific fleet, the Chinese control the majority of the street markets where locals buy all goods of daily need, from clothing to food.
Four of the main street markets of the city belong to the 37-year-old Chinese businessman Liu De Shang, who is also the chairman of the Sino-Russian Business Association. He has been doing Business in Russia for 15 years. About two thousands Chinese traders sell a variety of goods from China in stalls at the largest of his markets.
More than 120 of his relatives and friends are involved in his business that has spread from the Far East to other regions of Russia. His brother has several stores in Moscow. The whole business is strictly controlled by Chinese nationals.
Russian government sources are trying to present the development of the Sine-Russian trade as a positive process.
In 2013, Russia’s trade with China amounted to about $ 89.21 billion. Imports from China to Russia in 2013 increased by 12.6% to $ 49.59 billion, while Russian exports to China fell by 10.3% to $ 39.62 billion.
According to Russian government explanations of land and properties to benefit Chinese investments in these sectors will help the development of Russian and Chinese companies, as well as allow t annual trade with China to reach $200 billion by 2020.
