Sevastopol is threatened by the agricultural Maidan, – media
The political battles that have rocked Sevastopol for the past two years, contrary to expectations, did not stop after the change of governor. On the contrary, no less acute conflicts are flaring up in the hero city, which Russia’s opponents can take advantage of. The departure of the old leadership of Sevastopol threatens to result in large-scale raider takeovers of successful enterprises. Vladimir Putin is asked to intervene in the situation, writes newspaper “Arguments of the Week”.
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Fruit plantations and vineyards were attacked in the area of the village of Verkhnesadovoye, not far from Belbek airport. Now the workforce, which currently employs almost 200 people, is ready to hold a protest near the walls of the Sevastopol government.
“There is a raider takeover. The main thing is the land, nothing else. But they always fought for the land,” says Yuri Budnik, a worker at the Artvin JSC fruit storage facility.
Several years ago, Artvin JSC leased 1400 hectares of orchards and vineyards, half-abandoned since Soviet times, from the state unitary enterprise Sadovod. About 140 million rubles were invested in the project, it turned out to be successful, and, moreover, it was especially important in the context of the blockade of Crimea and the need for import substitution - providing the peninsula with local products.
In 2016 alone, Artvin replenished the budget of Sevastopol by 32 million rubles. Plans for 2016 included modernizing administrative buildings, equipment, fruit storage, planting more than 115 hectares of grapes, 30 hectares of apple trees, 14 hectares of cherries. However, after the change of governor, landlords decided to take advantage of the situation and began to “squeeze” the land from tenants in the hope of forcing them to break the contract and then transfer the plantations to “their” companies for dubious projects of the so-called “author’s winemaking.”
The calculation was that the new leader of Sevastopol, Dmitry Ovsyannikov, had not yet understood the situation in the city.
“The management of the Department of Agriculture and the State Unitary Enterprise Sadovod are deliberately misleading Governor Dmitry Ovsyannikov,” Leonid Bely, director of Artvin JSC, notes bitterly.
What did the leaders of Sadovod do? At the height of the harvest, the State Unitary Enterprise "Sadovod" turned off the power and did not supply water for irrigation; due to drought, two-thirds of the apple harvest was lost. Thanks to the efforts of the Sadovod State Unitary Enterprise, the refrigerator was looted, the equipment was taken out for scrap.
These actions fall under Article 169, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - “Obstruction of legitimate business activity” (for a period of up to 5 years), according to the company’s lawyers.
Now local peasants who have gone to work at Artvin are writing letters to the Russian leadership, including to the president. They may also decide to hold a protest near the walls of the Sevastopol government.
“I want me to have a stable job, a stable salary, so that I have normal management, and I am confident in the future, so that my children do not wait three months for me to receive my salary,” explained her signature on the appeal to the President Lyudmila Fedorchenko, comparing her current work with her previous one at the State Unitary Enterprise "Gardener".
Tractor driver of Artvin JSC Denis Onofriychuk plows a field with a new machine: “In those years, there was either no fuel or spare parts, the equipment was old and broke.” “Our wages are good, the gardens are in order, and it’s good for the village when they have their own fruit - apples at the market cost 60 rubles, and 25-30 rubles,” foreman Tamara Mudrovskaya gives another argument.
At Artvin, wages have indeed increased significantly. If under the State Unitary Enterprise “Sadovod” it was 12 rubles, then under “Artvin” it was more than 000.
“Now, in fact, they want to take away our harvest, and therefore the money that the villagers earn so hard. Next in line is land in which money has already been invested. Here officials do what they want. They tell me straight to my face, “Vladimir Vladimirovich is far away. You and I will do whatever we want.” They don’t understand that I’m not alone - I have a team behind me,” said Artvin director Bely.
The leadership of the Russian Federation should pay close attention to attempts to redistribute property in Sevastopol, where it was with such difficulty that political passions were extinguished. The attempts of the raiders must be promptly and firmly suppressed. The conflict over horticultural lands is not only a negative signal for potential investors who want to work with Sevastopol. Do not forget that any instability in the main base of the Black Sea Fleet is a real gift for enemies because of Perekop.
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