On July, 1 Nikolai Likhanov, a resident of Chita, held a one-person picket ‘Russia Is Territory of Lawlessness’ at the building of the administration of Zabaikalsky Krai (The Zabaikalye Territory). He demanded not to lease farmland out to entrepreneurs from China.
“Every hectare is actually for let at the price of a cup of kefir a year. Even a half-dead cow gives a bucket of milk every month, and 12 buckets every year. It means that this cow is more beneficial to the region than the deal with the Chinese,” he said.
In addition, Likhanov urged the authorities to turn their attention to Zabaikalye’s public debt (RUR 1.6 Bn), saying that it is ‘bogus’.
Earlier, local top officials and Chinese Huae Sinban Company signed the agreement for renting out 115,000 hectares of agricultural land and a deserted industrial zone in the village of Magaytuy for 49 years, tvrain.ru reports.
In response, a campaing of collecting signatures against the deal started. Thousand of people signed the appeal on the Internet. Some deputies of the State Duma (mainly members of the LDPR faction) expressed their outrage at the initiative and called to give up the plan.
On June 23, Zabaikalye Governor Konstantin Ilkovsky rebuted information on leasing lands to China. The local authorities continue to look for tenants and offer them equal opportunities, he stated. According to the Governor, if China starts to farm there, there will be no more than 50% of Chinese workers. In this case, there will be a Russian company with the participation of Chinese capital.
