26 April 2023, 09:43
SMO participants from Dagestani village complain to Putin about seizure of land
The residents of the Dagestani village of Kurush, who take part in the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine, have recorded a video appeal to Vladimir Putin complaining about the unjustified seizure of pasture land from villagers in favour of the national park. The servicemen ask Russian president to instruct law enforcers to check the actions of Dagestani authorities.
In April, Kurush villagers recorded a video appeal to Vladimir Putin and Sergey Melikov, the head of Dagestan, with a complaint that local authorities had unreasonably transferred the land on which they pastured their cattle to the national park.
After the villagers' appeal, the Dagestani Ministry of Natural Resources stated that during the creation of the national park, hearings were held with local residents. Shamil Khadulaev, a member of the Public Chamber of Dagestan, doubted that the project had been discussed with local residents, and demanded from the Ministry to publish proofs thereof.
"Residents of our small village are engaged in animal husbandry – this is our only source of income. Our lands ... had been transferred to form the Samur National Park. We understand that this may form the basis for the development of tourism in the republic. However, we should not sacrifice our bread," one of the SMO participants says in the video appeal posted in Shamil Khadulaev's Telegram channel.
The military serviceman has also accused officials of corruption. "The villagers have only one land left – the plots where our houses are located. In the future, this will force villagers to abandon the village, since they are taking our land away from us," he has explained.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 25, 2023 at 02:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
