TATARSTAN LEGALIZES FREE SALE OF LAND SALE AND PURCHASE.

The parliament in the Republic of Tatarstan yesterday adopted a land code that permits the free sale and purchase of land. Tatarstan’s law goes further than the pioneering legislation adopted in nearby Saratov Oblast, as it permits land to be sold to foreign nationals and foreign corporations. Saratov’s law allows land to be sold only to Russian citizens. Tatarstan’s President Mintimer Shaimiev nonetheless assured parliament the government would monitor the sale of land to non-Russian citizens and would ensure that they were able to buy land only from the state. (Itar-Tass, April 15) Russia’s regions are being forced to adopt their own legislation because President Yeltsin and the State Duma are at loggerheads over the issue and the president has vetoed the Land Code adopted by the Duma.

Yesterday, too, Tatarstan’s parliament adopted in the first reading a controversial bill on republic citizenship. (RTR, April 15)

Russian Border Guards Kidnapped in Ingushetia.