The Far-Eastern Hectare Law and land in the Sakha Republic (Russia)

Abstract

The Sakha Republic is the largest region of the Russian Federation by territory. At the same time, it is also considered one of the most sparsely populated regions. Because of the Republic's size and relatively small population, the Russian government included the Republic in the Far-Eastern Hectare Law (FEHL) in 2016 in order to repopulate and render productive the region. According to this law, any Russian citizen can apply for and receive a 1-ha land plot in the Sakha Republic for free. Expectedly, the Far Eastern Hectare Law caused mass discontent amongst Sakha residents and has led to ongoing protests. This article examines the contested understandings of land and property in the text of the FEHL and the daily practices of Sakha residents, as well as the demands and rhetoric of Sakha's protesters. Turning land into property through FEHL is a form of land and territorial dispossession (Harvey, 2004; Coulthard, 2014). This article argues that the FEHL violates the rights of the Sakha people to use their native lands. The land conflict between the federal government and the inhabitants of the Sakha Republic resulted in the emergence of a new concept in the social and political space of the Republic: ancestral lands. In turn, this new concept has led to a reexamination of the definition of Indigenous peoples in the Sakha Republic.