Tractor marchers criticize Russian state agricultural policy

Participants of the roundtable held on September 5 in Moscow claim that were deficiencies in the agrarian policy of the state that forced Kuban farmers to hold a tractor march. The participants of the roundtable have noted that in the course of the protest action, farmers faced the opposition from the law enforcement bodies.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 21, Kuban farmers began a tractor run to Moscow in an attempt to draw the authorities' attention to their problems. The participants of the action and their supporters were detained in Kuban and the Rostov Region.

On September 5, the Sakharov Centre in Moscow hosted a meeting of the tractor march participants with human rights defenders, media, and members of the "Russian Association".

Sergey Vladimirov, a member of the "Russian Association", a participant of the tractor march, has described the problems faced by the farmers during the protest action.

According to Oleg Petrov, an entrepreneur from the Krasnodar Territory, the participants of the tractor march were 17 times stopped in the territory of Kuban.

Ilya Shablinsky, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC), has pointed to the problem of seizure of land from farmers, which makes it necessary to audit the activities of major agricultural holdings. According to Ilya Shablinsky, the activities of top-ranking officials of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture can also become a topic for discussion.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.