The upper house of Russian parliament, or the Federation Council, approved on Wednesday an amendment to the Land Code of the Russian Federation and a number of agricultural laws, that provides for the free provision of religious organizations with plots of land, on which church buildings sit.
At present, most of the denominations of the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious organizations manage plots of land in accordance with the right to permanent (indefinite). Use, Agrarian Committee Chairman Gennady Gorbunov explained.
In accordance with the new Land Code of the Russian Federation, plots of land are provided only to state and municipal establishments, federal state enterprises and a number of other organizations; all other legal entities, including religious, are required to renew their right to use land in perpetuity or purchase plots of land at their discretion.
According to Gennady Gorbunov, these provisions run counter to the law “On freedom of conscience and religious associations,” in accordance with which, the transfer to religious organizations of plots of land relating to churches and other church facilities is effected free of charge.
The possibility of free transfer of plots of land is also envisaged in a special government resolution over 2001. The amendment approved by the Russian senators on Wednesday does away with these contradictions.
However, the upper house members drew attention to the need for some specification of the legal formulations in legislation. In particular, they pointed to the need to specify certain provisions concerning religious organizations so as to exclude various extremist organizations from the list thereof.
“The state must have levers of influence in this field and no exactly to what entity plots of land are transferred as property,” said Yuri Sharandin, head of the constitutional committee.
Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov has instructed the Agrarian Committee to prepare legislative proposals, which will be adopted later and which, according to him, “will be able, in particular, to contribute to ensuring the country’s security.”
Sergei Mironov described as “progressive” the amendment approved by the upper house on Wednesday and noted that the confessions were waiting for it to become part of law.