Prior to voting on the land issue, ‘gag orders’ had been distributed in the parliament which read that selling land to foreigners will help protecting it, OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE MP Serhiy Lovochkin told reporters in the Verkhovna Rada.

“We have this strong stand that we do not support the introduction of the land market the way it is. Therefore, our key amendment to the bill will be to refuse from voting on it at all,” the politician said.

The MP cited some data that three fourths of Ukrainian citizens oppose this bill.

“They won’t change their mind. And the situation in the land sector will only aggravate: there’s no national cadaster registry, the land is underpriced, people are poor. There’s a huge number of people who had been unfairly deprived of land shares. Therefore, we believe that under current conditions the land market introduction will work against Ukrainians,” Lovochkin said.

The politician is certain that most of Sluha Narodu MPs who voted in favor of the bill on Wednesday do not realize the consequences of their decision.

“They haven’t read the draft text; they’ve been given some ‘gag orders’ made of 15 clauses. It read that the passing of the land bill is a way to protect from the Russian aggression. It read that if foreigners invested in Ukraine, they would care about its welfare. I mean it was stated directly in the ‘gag orders’ that the land will be sold to foreigners. It opposes the statements by the faction leaders and the president,” the MP said.

“Therefore, we believe the draft bill should not be passed the way it is. The moratorium on land sale must be prolongated, and only revoked when Ukrainians have funds to invest in their own lands, not just sell it,” Lovochkin said.