This announcement came from Deputy Minister for the Development of Russian Far East Sergei Kachayev, the ministry’s press service reports.

At present, the total area of land included in the programme is roughly 140 million hectares. The federal law on the ‘Far Eastern hectare’ envisages 25 grounds for excluding land plots from provision to citizens. Experts are currently analysing the territories that have been excluded.

“As a result of the analysis and together with the government authorities that have provided information to the Federal Information System, we are optimizing this land in order to provide citizens with a larger amount of land from which they can choose ‘Far Eastern hectares’”, Kachayev said.

In addition, the Ministry for the Development of Russian Far East and the Ministry of Natural Resources have prepared amendments to the federal law on the ‘Far Eastern hectare’ which will expand the area for the provision of ‘Far Eastern hectares’ by excluding territories, above all those used for subsoil resources and forestry.

“We face the objective of significantly increasing this area to maximize the choice of land by citizens”, he said.

The deputy minister also added that the peak of demand for the ‘Far Eastern hectare’ has currently passed. The regions are returning to their standard operating mode and redistributing additional resources for the regions that need them the most.