Volgograd Region is one of the regions where a large number of labor migrants arrive in the summer. They usually work in the fields, growing cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. They also live there, in hastily equipped greenhouses. Often, migrants are immigrants from the countries of Central Asia, who are on the territory of Russia illegally. The correspondent of "KP-Volgograd", together with the employees of the Department for Migration Affairs of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Volgograd Region, went on a raid across the fields of the Volgograd Region.
MORNING PAINTS WITH GENTLE LIGHT AND THE GREENHOUSE AND THE BARK
Early morning. The sun, which rose three hours ago, is already beating down mercilessly. The day promises to be hot. Migration officials, the opera house, and traffic cops try to cheer themselves up with coffee. A short meeting, at which, in the protocol language, the tasks were communicated and the requirements for compliance with security measures were voiced. We are going to the Ilovlinsky district, to the fields near the Avilov farm, where, according to the police, a large number of migrants work. In order not to attract attention, we are driving cars with civilian numbers.
Greenhouses stretch almost to the horizon. Photo: press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Volgograd Region
Greenhouses of interest to the police are spread out to the left and right of the road leading to the farm. The territory of about 200 hectares is fenced with barbed wire, and everywhere, where the eye can see, there is a film of greenhouses. On one of them, we notice several people repairing the roof. The last instructions on the deployment of the fighters along the perimeter of the fields are heard on the radio. So that no one escapes. The operation to detain migrants begins suddenly.
At the entrance to the "greenhouse village", either the owner of the greenhouses or the "overseer" - a young Armenian, shouts loudly. Allegedly, the police, who suddenly appeared, brought a pregnant woman to a swoon, who was lying in one of the barracks. Police not involved in the cordon start combing greenhouses, barracks and huts:
- A group of 20 people is running to the river, to the river, stop them! - comes from the radio. Immediately another voice goes on the air: - the migrant twisted his leg, he cannot walk, he needs a car for transportation.
The plantation workers live in such conditions. Photo: press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Volgograd Region
I look around, trying not to get too far from the police. Obviously, someone managed to warn the migrants. A woman's bag hangs in one of the makeshift warehouses where tomatoes are stored. In it there is a still misted bottle with compote, a simple "brake" for lunch - a couple of pieces of lavash, a few eggs. There are also empty boxes for tomatoes, and a huge pile of vegetables ready for packaging. I go further.
Residential barrack. Instead of beds, there are common bunks made of planks. The same benches and tables. Heavy smell of unwashed bodies and missing food. It seems to permeate everything around, mixing with the smell of organic fertilizers, or, more simply, manure. The feeling of the ghetto and the unkind looks of others that follow your every step, pierces to the bone. It enhances the barking of dogs that are tied at each barrack.
The harvested crop is stored in hastily made warehouses. Photo: press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Volgograd Region
The dwellings themselves are made, for the most part, from old car cameras and out-of-order drip irrigation hoses. A frame is made from the branches of a tree, which is then braided with whatever comes to hand. Walls are made of this material. The roofs are covered with slate. Whoever is richer and more agile - makes huts or digs dugouts. In some places under the roof - used syringes. What for? Known only to the inhabitants. By the way, the first ten Uzbeks are already gathering under the protection of policemen in one of the barracks.
HOW THE VOLGOGRAD BRAND IS GROWED
Go ahead.Again a warehouse with still green tomatoes. A mountain of boxes, packing rope. Several bags with domestic water-soluble magnesium fertilizers and a huge box with bottles of an unknown Volga-colored liquid in clear weather. What it is is unknown. There is not a single letter on the bottle labels, not that in Russian - but even in English. Experienced police officers, seeing me examine an unknown substance, say that it takes only three weeks from planting seedlings in the ground to harvesting the first tomato harvest from migrants. There are such tomatoes immediately got sick. But judging by the fact that there were several refrigerated trucks on the territory of the greenhouses, the products are scattered around the country with a bang. After all, Volgograd tomatoes are a brand. Especially if you don't know how they are grown.
Tomatoes and cucumbers are "watered" with such fertilizers. What is in the bottles is unknown. Photo: press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Volgograd Region
Meanwhile, the cordon ring is shrinking more and more tightly. Migrants are "taken out" from the most unexpected places, almost caught from a nearby pond. One of the most active women tries to pity the police by speaking to them in broken Russian and outraged that he does not understand the Uzbek language:
“My husband died, and there are four children left,” the woman shouts. - What have I violated? Why can't I come to Russia to work? I was going to go tomorrow to fill out all the documents, why are you sticking to me?
The policeman, in turn, probably for the tenth time already explained to the woman:
-We will check the documents, if everything is in order - work for your health.
ONLY NUMBERS
In total, during the raid, order of citizens of Uzbekistan, China and Tajikistan was detained.
The territory is guarded by very evil mongrels. Photo: press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Volgograd Region
As the press service of the regional police clarified, administrative protocols were drawn up against labor migrants for violating the migration legislation of the Russian Federation. foreigners carried out illegal labor activities, citizens of Uzbekistan violated the purpose of entering the territory of the state.
It was established that citizens of the PRC and six citizens of Uzbekistan were illegally on the territory of the Russian Federation, carrying out labor activities.
All violators are held accountable. foreigners will have to leave the state. Now they are placed in a special temporary detention facility for foreign citizens.
The satellite dishes on the barracks look ridiculous. Photo: press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Volgograd Region
Currently, measures are being taken to identify persons who have attracted foreign citizens to illegal labor activities. They face an administrative fine in the amount of up to 800 thousand rubles for each foreign worker involved in labor activities in violation of the law.
IT SHOULD NOT BE UNLEGAL, AND IT IS NOT A NATIONALITY
By the way, Volgograd farmers do not see anything wrong with the dominance of labor migrants, however, with a significant caveat: the conditions should be the same for everyone - both for local farmers and for visitors:
Among the detainees are Uzbeks and Chinese. Photo: press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Volgograd Region
“In principle, if you put both Russian and foreign farmers in the same conditions, then people will only benefit from this,” thinks a farmer from the Ilovlinsky district, Andrei Proshakov. - Healthy competition always benefits the end consumer. Another thing is that under the pretext of fighting for import substitution, we lost our vegetables, and those that we have are very expensive. We've lost our milk. Also for the same reason. Illegals now take by the fact that they do not pay for land, do not pay taxes, more and more seizing territories. On the same Moscow highway, it has already appeared in Chinese, and they are slowly investing in business - they put tire shops, cafes and so on along the road.
The law should be the same for everyone.Then it will be good. Otherwise, it will only be good for the latifundists in Hawaii and the Chinese.
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- print version
The leader of the Humpty Dumpty project, Vladimir Anikeev (Lewis), who was recently released, plans to write a book in the near future - both about his adventures and the deeds of the hacker group. Of course, he has something to tell about, but you should not expect any special revelations. The FSB has already announced its intention to hold a preventive conversation with Anikeev.
In recent months, Vladimir Anikeev has been fighting in the courts of various instances, filing petitions for both release on parole and the replacement of punishment with another, not related to imprisonment. Hearings dragged on, final decisions could be made by the time Lewis had already served his term. Help arrived in time in the form of a recently adopted law, nicknamed "a day and a half" (a day spent in a pre-trial detention center is counted to a prisoner as 1.5 days in a colony). The administrations of the isolation wards are engaged in the recalculation of the terms, but it also takes a long time for them. It was expected that the fate of Anikeev in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center would be determined sometime in early autumn 2018. However, according to a Rosbalt source familiar with the situation, Lewis was in luck.
Government analyst decides the fate of the hacker leader
Recently, Lefortovo has been actively replenished with officials arrested in Dagestan, as well as persons involved in treason cases. There is already a definite shortage of places. Therefore, in the case of Anikeev, who was serving a court-appointed sentence in a pre-trial detention center, they decided to speed up, which allowed the leader of the hacker group to be released in early August. In Moscow, Lewis did not linger, but immediately went to his parents in the Caucasus. There he will soon come to his senses. Anikeev was so quick that the FSB did not have time to say goodbye to him. Therefore, they invited him for a preventive conversation immediately upon returning to the capital.
Probably, they also want to talk to him in connection with Anikeev's plans to write a book. First, the “case of Humpty Dumpty and the associated Anonymous International exchange (where correspondence of officials and businessmen was sold) continues to be investigated. And some information should not be released. Secondly, the hackers working under Lewis's control "hacked" many more VIP-person boxes than is known to the general public, and studied a lot of secrets (including documents labeled "secret"). And to acquaint everyone with this data is not worth it. Thirdly, they want to protect Anikeev from a possible relapse. Therefore, the book is unlikely to be a sensation, although reading will clearly turn out to be fascinating. The social circle of Lewis and people associated with him was very interesting. And sometimes the hacker group took part in serious "games" of security officials and officials.
Anikeev will not return to Moscow to an empty place. He already has a job offer: the law firm Koblev and Partners, which defended Lewis, prepared for him the position of head of the cybersecurity division. Thus, Lewis can retrain from a hacker to a hunter for them. Such transformations are already known. So, Dmitry Dokuchaev, an officer of the Central Information Security Department of the FSB, took part in the development of Anikeev and the operation to arrest him, who himself was a professional hacker before joining the authorities. Now Dokuchaev, however, is awaiting trial on charges of treason.
The FSB secretly removed the "Humpty Dumpty" archive from Kiev
In the materials of the case, the participants of "Humpty Dumpty" are officially accused of hacking the e-mail boxes of the following persons: TV presenter Dmitry Kiselev, Deputy Head of the Department for Internal Policy of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Timur Prokopenko,press secretary of the Russian Prime Minister Natalya Timakova, secretary of businessman Magomed Magomedov Elena Morozova, former top manager of Sberbank Yevgeny Kislyakov, presidential aide Andrey Belousov. At the same time, Timakova and Prokopenko were not recognized as victims in the case, since they did not submit the relevant statements, saying that the hacking of mail accounts did not harm them.
After Anikeev was sentenced to two years in prison, he was not sent to the colony. This was done because two of his accomplices were still being investigated, and Lewis was the main witness in this case. He could also be needed for interrogation on other "hacker" investigations. Moreover, earlier Anikeev was interrogated in the framework of the treason case by the deputy head of the FSB Information Security Center Sergei Mikhailov, his subordinate Dmitry Dokuchaev, an employee of Kaspersky Lab Ruslan Stoyanov and businessman Georgy Fomchenkov.
As a result, Lewis served his sentence in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.
Rosbalt
A mysterious "vegetable" infection in Europe has stirred up Russia. Some of them urgently switched from cucumbers and potatoes to carrots and turnips, others got angry: why do we buy vegetables abroad, is there really not enough such good in the endless Russian expanses?
Volgograd Region was one of the first to give the answer: "Let's feed all of Russia with vegetables" (details here). Here's a joy: the golden age is coming for Volgograd vegetable growers. We call the region with congratulations and questions, and on the other end of the line there is only bitter disappointment.
- In one year you cannot fix what has been slipping into the hole for many, many years. Better come, - invited us Andrei Bolotnikov, a vegetable grower from the Gorodishchensky district. - Look for yourself.
Tractor from Soviet cinema
At the turn to a small farm of 40 hectares, a smiling man meets me. Either a yellow T-shirt helps, or the sun is bright, but Andrei Borisovich does not at all look like a vegetable grower clogged with life.
Bolotnikov, together with his wife Nina, was at the very origins of farming. In 1992, they took a share, first in Vinnovka, then moved to Erzovka in the Gorodishchensky district. The former official (he worked as a state inspector) could hardly imagine what he was getting himself into.
- Now I can already outwardly tell what the plant lacks, what sore it has and when it should be treated with fertilizer, and then we went by trial and error.
Bolotnikov's farm: five carriages, a veranda, a small tractor - these are shown in Soviet films about labor shock workers or in Russian ones, when a drunken man drives it around the village.
Andrey Bolotnikov - to his iron horse: - Well, so we fought back ... Photo: Andrey MIREYKO
- We took him back in 1992, - Andrey is ahead of the question. - Until now, we cannot change: a new one costs a million and a half. And we don't even dream of French toys. Excessive amounts.
- What about loans?
- What loans? It is very difficult to get them from the agricultural bank. They require guarantees, but what guarantees do I have? Old technique? Future harvest? Under this they do not give. And if the usual consumer, then the income statement does not suit. We do not have a stable income - only seasonal. In addition, there is one percent on paper, but in reality it is much higher: they count commissions for registration, service and a bunch of other things. Perhaps, the farms are larger and use these preferential loans. And the rest is not profitable. We get out ourselves. We borrow from friends in the spring at 3 - 5 percent. We release it in the fall. Here a friend joked, they say, you are Andrey, like a parachutist, jumping from the 9th floor and opening a parachute in front of the ground.
And you have to borrow a lot. Bolotnikov lays out his calculations on the shelves.
- The first expenses are seeds. We cultivate 20 out of 40 hectares. The rest are paired. And we do not risk planting a lot. It takes 220 thousand rubles to sow this area. We take Dutch hybrids, dear ones.
- And what about ours? They're cheaper.
- Volgograd seed farms have been closed for a long time, there are only small things left. Last year, a farmer friend decided to save money and bought local seeds at Kozlovskaya. I took one variety, 5 - 6 different species emerged. There was no harvest. As a result, he remained in debt for the winter.
The second expense item is diesel fuel. The Bolotnikovs' site takes about 2 tons. For 25 rubles a liter - 50 thousand.
- Plus, this year I made a major overhaul to my tractor - here's 50 thousand for you. For fertilizers - 50, for pesticides against pests and other nasty things - 45. Sometimes more. Electricity this year has risen from 3.5 rubles per kilowatt to 5 rubles, water, labor, Bolotnikov continues to count. - So much for 750 thousand. And if the year is good, we will earn about a million. It turns out - minus expenses - for two people 250 thousand a year. Is this money?
Yes, 10 thousand a month per person is not a lot ...
A sober Russian is better than any Tajik
- Agriculture is a risky business. Last year, out of 6 hectares of tomatoes, only one and a half hectares were harvested - the rest was destroyed by the heat. In this, a beetle appeared that can damage seedlings - and Andrei Borisovich catches a buzzing pest on the go. He tries to resist, but it is useless. Workers distract from studying the little enemy.
“We need two more bags,” the man with the hoe unbends. Instead of the familiar Tajik face in the fields, there is a Russian one.
- I'll bring it, Sergei. I gave up the foreigners, - the vegetable grower is already turning to me. - More precisely, I was refused. Four years ago I brought people on a quota. They came to prepare the fields for sowing two days earlier than the deadline indicated in the papers. As a result, a fine of forty thousand was imposed. The next year, the quota was not given. So I'm hiring Russians.
- Don't they drink?
- I have two families working constantly. I found them in a junkyard - ordinary bums. I talked to them, explained what was what. They live all summer right there in trailers: I feed them, dress them. I pay at the end of the season at the rate of 250 - 300 rubles per day.
And the workers are nodding their hoes together: bale-bale-bale. Not a knock, but a song for the farmer.
True, this is the exception rather than the rule. Vegetable growers prefer to hire workers from the near abroad.
- I tried to take Russians - it's useless and pointless, - Andrey Kostetsky, a 29-year-old vegetable grower, shares his experience. - I send them to the field, I pay in the evening. The next morning they are gone. They go into binge drinking for several days. Therefore, you have to fill out a bunch of papers and order migrants. But this year it is even more difficult. The FMS has assigned a quota of 1 person per hectare. And I just need several times more for weeding.
- Agriculture is a risky business. Last year, out of 6 hectares of tomatoes, only one and a half hectares were harvested - the rest was destroyed by the heat.Photo: Andrey MIREYKO
Today for two rubles, and tomorrow for 30 kopecks
But the biggest headache is how to realize the harvest. So we got to the real "vegetable" problem. There are cucumbers and radishes in Russia. Completely. But selling them is not easy. While large farms work directly with canning factories and wholesalers from Moscow, small businesses give their crops to dealers. There is simply no time to engage in yet another business. And with intermediaries it is unprofitable.
- Three years ago, early cabbage was sold for one and a half rubles per kilogram - below the cost price. And the late one was left in the fields - they used it as silage. It was the same with tomatoes. When you start sowing, you never know at what price we will rent, - explains Bolotnikov.
Half of his harvest goes to other areas - wholesalers arrive in wagons. Half of the vegetable growers hand over to the wholesale warehouse "Zhiguli".
- This year cabbage costs 7 - 8 rubles per kilogram. The farther from the city the economy, the cheaper they take - they know that the farmer has nowhere to go, - Andrey gives the alignment for this year. - At the very base, they are selling it for 10 rubles, and while it is delivered to the retail market in the same area, the price doubles, if not more.And sometimes, in order to bring down the price, they agree: they import goods from Azerbaijan, and they take from the peasants at half the price.
Previously, vegetable growers had a market called "Rotor" - Volgograd farmers came there by cars and sold their goods. Spending - only for gasoline. Now there is no such place in the city.
- We tried to enter the city markets - a turn from the gate. There are very few Russian trades. And it's expensive to pay for a place - 1,500 a month plus one hundred or two hundred rubles every day. In recent years, many of our friends have reduced their allotments. The risk is too great. Moreover, the Chinese do not allow them to work.
Chinese vegetable growing
After the Chinese were ousted from the clothing markets in Moscow, they started growing vegetables. The scheme is simple. They come to the region, ask some old man to rent a plot, pay him. Greenhouses are being built, tomatoes are being planted. Seeds are brought from China, from there fertilizers. Which ones are unknown. But from them everything grows by leaps and bounds, and the yield is two or three times more than usual. What does such a tomato or onion just contain? Nobody knows. Officially, the Chinese do not exist (there will be no more than five legal farms in the entire Volgograd region), so they are not afraid of checks. There is always an opportunity to negotiate. And not knowing the language is not a hindrance. And the land cultivated by the Chinese burns up in two years - after super-harvests, nothing grows on it for another five years. The Chinese, on the other hand, find a new grandfather and take on a new plot.
There is also a buyer for a tomato grown with saltpeter and pesticides.Photo: Andrey MIREYKO
- If everything remains as it is, all the vegetables will be grown for us by the Chinese. You will go back, take a look at them, - Andrey and Nina advise us.
And so we did. We turned towards the greenhouses whitening like a sail. From under the pieces of torn film one can see large tomatoes - barely pink. The season is just beginning.
- What do you want? - the Chinese meets us on the patch in front of the greenhouses.
Around, except for the red dog, not a soul. Everyone, as if on cue, hid in the dirty trailers.
- The tomato is needed. 2 - 3 tons - I pass myself off as a customer.
- It's too early, - but the seller's eyes have already lit up.
- And if you think about it, we are going from afar, it is very necessary.
- Disat!
- How many?
- Disat!
- Ten?
“They’re seven,” the Chinese man waves his hands in fright.
- Expensive, lower the price, we'll take it in bulk.
- There are five.
- Do you have a certificate for the product?
- Let's sit down?
- We will often take it.
- Sow the certificate, take it.
We refused such a tempting offer - 60 rubles per kilogram. The price is prohibitive even for the Chinese. But now it is not the season in the Volgograd region. Almost everything in shops and markets is of Turkish origin. But in July the cost will go down. And there will be a buyer for a tomato grown on saltpeter and pesticides. Indeed, in appearance it is no different from an environmentally friendly product. So the goods will go with a bang. Only this "hurray" is more like a funeral march through the local vegetable growing.
- Can you write that we are selling the site? - Andrey Bolotnikov asked me at the end of our meeting. - I'm tired of this extreme. I love the earth. But I'm just tired. It is impossible to work when you do not know what will happen tomorrow.
We can, Andrey Borisovich. Unfortunately, you are not the first. When I called vegetable growers to find out about life, many apologized.
- We are not doing this anymore. I want to see the results of my labors, and not watch tons of onions, tomatoes and cucumbers rot in the fields.
by the way
What's the point in benefits?
There are indeed special support programs for farmers. Only a few can use them. To collect and execute all the documents, you need lawyers, an accountant, which small farms simply do not have. It is too expensive to travel independently to different authorities.
- I applied for a benefit.They gave me 8 thousand in the end, but I spent about ten on gasoline while I went back and forth to fill out the documents, ”says Gennady Shevyakhov, a farmer with 20 years of experience. - And what's the point in this benefit? Explain ...
Where the Chinese grow vegetables, the land burns out in two years.Andrey MIREYKO
Chinese agricultural technology worries locals and environmentalists
10/28/2017 at 13:04, views: 3169
Chinese agricultural technology worries locals and environmentalists alike as they watch in indignation as tons of chemicals dissolve on vegetable plantations of vegetable growers from the Middle Kingdom. The tomatoes and cucumbers of Chinese migrant workers grow right before our eyes, but they themselves do not eat their vegetables, but buy them in the local markets. MK in Volgograd understood the situation.
Past or present?
The field, covered with cellophane from the Moscow highway, resembles a small lake. This "reservoir" grows and spreads in Gorodishchensky district, near the Sakarka river, by leaps and bounds. According to local residents, they even notice trucks with chemicals driving to the "Chinese" fields from their villages. Villagers speculate that the farming traditions of Chinese workers end up dumping poisons into regional rivers nearby.
"Cellophane" lake
Smooth, clean tomatoes grow directly on scorched earth. Here, under the Chinese field, the Tsaritsyn watchline of the 18th century is buried. Now the vegetables of Chinese farmers are ripening on the defensive structure.
Tomatoes grow on scorched earth, in garbage
“A historical monument belonging to the Volgograd region was handed over to Chinese tomatoes without a fight,” said farmer Andrey Proshakov. - Our appeals and calls to the relevant department seem to pass by specialists.
However, on Tsaritsyn's defensive line, Chinese farmers have already built their own city for themselves. Workers live in greenhouses equipped with everything they need all year round. There they have heat and water coming directly from the local river Tishanka. A water intake is connected to each farmhouse, but there is no sewage system or any drainage system. And inside small greenhouses, on the floor, workers store the products collected in the fields.
Greenhouse avenues of a Chinese city
Farmers' words and independent expertise
Local farmers are confident that water contaminated with, according to them, chemicals gets into their fields.
“Or maybe chemicals go into drinking water,” says farmer Alexander Bogatyrev. - After all, not far from the "Chinese" fields is our drinking source.
Garbage from burned-out farms
Local farmers themselves send water for examination, since no one can take care of their safety. So, water from the local rivers got into the laboratory several times already. In the lakes in the Gorodishchensky district, fish die and crayfish turn blue. However, after the first check, the experts assured the residents that the water in their springs was not contaminated.
Shocking changes in the local flora were revealed during repeated examinations. The test showed that the local soil is indeed contaminated with "unknown biologically active substances that stimulate the growth and development of biological objects." Now experts cannot even predict what effect these substances will have on the residents themselves.
In addition, the water flea, Daphnia, an inhabitant of local rivers, has also undergone changes.
- Sexual maturity of diurnal daphnia came on the third day at a rate of 12-14 days, the maturation of eggs in a clutch occurred on the second day at a rate of five, - said in the laboratory. - We do not know what kind of "fertilizer" could cause such a reaction of organisms.
So, tomatoes and cucumbers grow right before our eyes on the fields of Chinese guest workers. Local farmers said that the Chinese do not eat their own vegetables, but buy them at local markets.
Maybe at least a lease according to the law?
The head of the department for agriculture and food, Alexander Erokhin, said that recently another Chinese town has grown up near the village of Peschanka, in the Ilovlinsky district. The tenant paid taxes when he began to settle down, but, having established production, he finished payments.
“This year, farmers are working here illegally,” notes Erokhin. - At the same time, workers calmly continue to ship their products. But they have no documents giving them such a right.
Alexander Erokhin said that the tenant of the Volgograd fields already owns about a hundred hectares of land, the income from which brings more than a million rubles into the owner's pocket. However, the landlord's own house suggests otherwise. The tenant has a small apartment in an old dilapidated building and also works with children in one of the local clubs. There, the landowner teaches the children martial arts.
House of the "rich" landowner
An independent expert, who wished to remain anonymous, explained the situation by the fact that entrepreneurs often register land or illegal business in the name of acquaintances or friends.
- This is a "triple" insurance: the tenant can change, and a foreign citizen remains the owner of the business. The gullible acquaintance himself may not even be aware of his wealth. And no one reads documents in Russia, putting their signature.
Local residents say that they have already sent more than 50 letters to various departments with requests to check the Chinese fields. However, the services to the questions of “Volgogradskaya Pravda. ru »about the problem of local farmers refused to answer.
- We made analyzes of land samples during the raid with the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so we cannot disclose information about the results, - explained in the regional Rosselkhoznadzor. - Write an official request.
The same answer came from the inter-district environmental prosecutor's office. The department's prosecutors explained that they had not received such requests at all.
Now the regional media have also taken up the investigation. Together with local residents, they are looking for the truth about the Chinese fields that have grown in the Volgograd region.
Photo by publishing house "Volgogradskaya Pravda"
I sit at home watching TV. He is Japanese by nationality, but produced in China. In the bathroom, a Chinese-assembled machine washes clothes. Drink the phone, it is also made in the Celestial Empire. But what a sin to conceal, wherever you look, the hand of the East is visible everywhere. Even a T-shirt and slippers on me were made by nimble Chinese hands. Well, at least the tomato is native, local. I cut it, but he is somehow not that - wiry, whitish. I take a bite - not that, is it really a "made in Chin"? Judging by the label - no, but in fact - yes.
The Volgograd region has always been a "granary of tomatoes". It's just that our climate is right. In the open field, tomatoes ripen juicy, sweet. They were taken to all parts of the country. Now southern tomatoes and cucumbers are also sent to markets and supermarkets from Moscow to the Urals, only they are grown in greenhouses, and not hereditary vegetable growers, but illegal Chinese.
At the end of May, near the city of Nikolaevsk, 76 such illegal migrants were tied in one of the farms.
“Almost all of them ended up in the country on a tourist visa,” the FMS management reports on the work done. - The St. Petersburg firm has written them an invitation. Already in November they were in Nikolaevsk - they were hired by a completely different company to work in greenhouses. In May, together with other departments, we carried out a major special operation to detain illegal immigrants. They are now in six temporary detention centers.
For six months the Chinese plowed our land and no one noticed anything?
It turns out they knew and noticed. As soon as they began to build greenhouses and the foreign troops landed, the locals immediately reported to the administration.
- Here, look, - Deputy Head of the District Anzhelika Grebennikova He lays out a pile of papers in front of me: letters to Rosprirodnadzor, FMS, Rosselkhoznadzor, labor inspectorate, Ropotrebndzor, - We can neither fine, let alone close the farm on our own, we will immediately attract for infringement of business rights. So we write to the supervisory authorities. And as soon as they arrive with a check, the Chinese are gone. We always knew when the commission would be. Someone warned them.
For one Uzbek three Russians are given, and for one Chinese - five Uzbeks
Nobody will say exactly how many Chinese worked in this farm. Back in February, four were still deported. Now they are waiting for deportations 76. We drive up to the greenhouses, and I notice three people running out of the outer barracks - and let's get out! So, not all were tied up!
- Look, look! - but wherever there, they are already lost in the greenhouses.
Probably, the officials from the supervisory bodies did the same - they saw the Chinese with their eyes, but they could not catch up.
Now here only Russian men pull boxes with neat cucumbers - all these products will be transported by trucks to Moscow, Perm, Novosibirsk and dozens of cities throughout Russia tomorrow. The illegal immigrants were happily detained when they managed to grow and harvest. And ours can also load it. Here they say: for one Uzbek three Russians are given, and for one Chinese - five Uzbeks. And even though they are paid more (Russians and Uzbeks - 500 rubles per day, Chinese - 800 - 900), given the productivity, there is no cheaper labor force: only the Chinese are ready to plow for 20 hours without a break and live in conditions from which one wants to run away. It stinks! In the barracks, sleeping cells are like honeycombs, laundry piled up in a dirty heap.
- Let's go quickly into the air, - I ask my guide - Head of the Department of Agriculture of the Nikolaevsky District Vasily Bityukov.
- Come on, I'll show you other interesting things, - Vasily Alexandrovich agrees. - Here is a pump pumping water from the Volga. The reservoirs are 100 meters away. Our farmer would have to pay a million for the project. Nothing here. They unauthorizedly connected to electricity - nothing, water is pumped from the Volga - nothing.
Illegals not only steal energy and water, they take huge sums from the treasury - they don’t pay taxes.
We still managed to find the owner of the land, Zair Zainulabidov. He immediately goes on the offensive:
- You have any complaints against me. I am a citizen of Russia, this is my land, not yours, I do what I want. I signed a contract with the company "Lina-Volga" - Russian guys. And then these ...
He is not able to handle a large plot himself, so he rented it out. Many farmers do this. The wealth is the same, but no hassle. And then the puzzle begins, which is worse than the Chinese character. The lessee subleases the plot, and the subleasers still sublease. And all contracts are fictitious, not registered anywhere. The end and the end cannot be found. The Chinese are just a super-labor force that brings huge profits to someone.
Red gold
There is no end in sight and no edge in greenhouses. From the side of the road, it seems that this lake glistens in the sun. On the site there are 176 greenhouses. And how much such goodness is there all over Russia ?!
Farmer from Ilovlinsky District Andrey Pleshakov boasted that by joint efforts they were able to get rid of one such plantation.
- When they saw that the Chinese were building greenhouses, they immediately sounded the alarm. It was self-seizure of the land. We involved everyone: the regional authorities, our deputies, the FMS, the prosecutor's office, the police, and even a representative of the FSB. But this whole lobby took seven months to expel them from our land. During this time, the Chinese managed to harvest and earn good money.
In general, the victory is dubious. The scheme is the same as in Nikolaevskoe - illegal immigrants come, build greenhouses, plant and harvest crops, all this time local authorities fight with supervisory authorities, and when the goods go to the shelves, migrants are expelled. If the Chinese are allowed to work, does it mean that someone needs it?
To show all the benefits of the tomato business, Pleshakov takes me to a greenhouse farm on the Saharka River (all Chinese settle only near rivers to pump water). Introduced by buyers. The Chinese man Zhenya is in charge here. He himself lives and works legally. Land, of course, rents. Those who work in greenhouses are covered with dense polyethylene. There are Russians, Uzbeks and, of course, Chinese.
- How much do you sell vegetables?
- Tomato for one and a half weeks, cucumbers for two weeks. Wholesale - two and five. Autumn is a good vegetable.
- And how much is stored?
- Oh, it's a long time! - Zhenya frowns.
We find a Russian worker.
- We planted tomato seedlings on May 14, - says Luda willingly. - After three weeks, you can collect. From a bush per season about 20 kilograms. We water them constantly with fertilizers. I don’t know what the owner is giving. We dilute some powders. The cucumbers are ripe for a long time. But they have no taste at all.
- 20 kilograms per bush. From the greenhouse on average 750 thousand per season, - says Andrey Pleshakov. - There are about 200 greenhouses here. That is, earnings from the site are 150 million rubles. For this money, we get poison on our own table. Our farmers, working with technologies, get less harvest. In addition, they pay taxes for electricity and water. As a result, the business becomes unprofitable.
Even large enterprises cannot stand it.
- The Chinese with their super-cheap vegetables are dumping prices. They flooded the city's markets and shops with their products. But the big question is about its quality, - indignant Tatiana Marchukova, director of the Ovoshchevod firm. - How can you grow a cucumber crop in 10 - 12 days without chemical additives? And if these additives are legal and harmless, why don't everyone else use them? It would be better if Onishchenko did not ban Borjomi, but came here and checked the local products.
Don't eat a cucumber, will you become a kid?
There is a lot of talk that Chinese vegetables are stuffed with nitrates, pesticides and other nasty things. And, looking at the sour and tasteless tomato, you fully agree. But it is very difficult to verify this. Rospotrebnadzor specialists look at the goods only in stores - once every three years as part of routine inspections. And they look at the markets for complaints. Even we were given a turn from the gate.
- The laboratory identifies substances and elements that are prohibited on the territory of Russia, - explains Valentina Kiryakulova, Head of the Nutrition Department of the Rospotrebnadzor Directorate for the Volgograd Region... “But Chinese vegetable growers use other pesticides unknown in our country. And our analysis simply won't reveal them.
Or maybe they are not harmful at all, but on the contrary? Not caught - not a thief, not deported - not a Chinese?
- Look, here three years ago there were also Chinese greenhouses, - Pleshakov points to a huge dull area, where the grass is barely breaking through.
The land after the "Chinese vegetable growing" literally burned out. The entire site is replete with bald patches. And in all this "Chinese business" there are too many blank spots. Illegal business is spinning under the very nose of the authorities, and no one can do anything about it.
“You know, we already agree, let them work,” Pleshakov sighs powerlessly. - But let them at least pay taxes to local budgets, Let them restore the land that was killed, - and sadly adds: - The language is something to learn them.
It's time to start now, there are almost 50 thousand characters in Chinese.
Official comment
Leonid Syuliev, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Volgograd Region:
- This problem has existed for several years. It is very difficult to identify illegal Chinese. They organize stable groups. They are very difficult to control. And it is difficult for us to cope with them. After all, farmers who lease land to the Chinese, the authorities can only recommend not to work with the inhabitants of the DPRK. But it is easier for the owners to get money just like that than to grow something for the same amount.And even the fact that after the Chinese the earth becomes dead and nothing grows on it, they do not bother.
Biologist's opinion
Alla Okolelova, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Industrial Ecology and Life Safety, Volgograd Technical University:
- To say that vegetables are poisoned and dangerous to health, you need to clearly know what pesticides they were treated with. For example, some of the most dangerous are organochlorine. They tend to accumulate in the soil. It takes the earth more than a hundred years to recover from them. In addition, if the land is treated with pesticides, then 10 percent of this poison will enter the body of water with groundwater. And if we eat vegetables that have been processed with these poisons, then all harmful substances accumulate already inside us. This leads to many diseases. First of all, the kidneys and liver are affected. In our country, this category of pesticides is prohibited, as well as throughout Europe. What fertilizers and pesticides are used in China, we do not know.
Quote in the topic
“Just beyond the bridge - these are miracles! - like China. And this China is not a land, not a city, but as if the house is so good, and it is written on it: "China". Only from this China come not the Chinese and not the Chinese, but Misha comes out and says: "Mamma, come here, to China!" It’s as if I’m going to go to him, and the people behind me are shouting: "Do not go to him, he is cheating: China is not there, China is on our side." I looked back, I see that China is on our side, exactly the same, and not alone. And Misha seems to be so cheerful, dances and sings: "I'll go to Kitai-Gorod for a walk!"
A. N. Ostrovsky. "The Marriage of Balzaminov".
While the Chinese are sprinkling the land with unknown fertilizers, the locals are burning their greenhouses.
"Komsomolskaya Pravda" continues to find out why the dominance of vegetable growers from the Celestial Empire is dangerous for us.
We have already written about the situation on the vegetable plantations of the country, and specifically in the Volgograd region. (see "KP" of June 14 and the site kp.ru)... Workers from the PRC (mostly illegal) grow tons of beautiful-looking cucumbers and tomatoes, but of very dubious quality. And they feel quite at ease on our territory.
After the publication in Komsomolskaya Pravda, those who were originally supposed to control the situation finally woke up. The FMS and the police visited the Chinese greenhouse lands, where the KP journalists had previously visited. And (what a surprise!) They found illegal migrants from China there. But the owner was never found. He hides behind numerous subleases. Once again, it seems that the case will die out for lack of an accused and a defendant. So far, only precinct officers have paid for their posts, who did not send uninvited guests home in time. (see "KP" of August 30).
But the raid still has its pluses. The inspectors took away illegal workers from the fields, soil samples, bags with unknown fertilizers - for analysis. True, there was a hitch with vegetables. There are Chinese people, but there are no tomatoes and cucumbers. Prudent vegetable growers do not grow them in season (July, August) - the price is too low. Therefore, they collect their jackpot earlier.
AN UNKNOWN DRUG IS NOT CONSIDERED HARMFUL
Rosselkhoznadzor has not yet announced the results of soil studies taken from Chinese greenhouses. This can only be done by the "customer" - the local police, but they are also silent. Without waiting for the official results, "Komsomolskaya Pravda" decided to check the land cultivated by the guests (as if not by the owners) from the Celestial Empire. Maybe we shouldn't be attacking Chinese vegetable growers?
“I’ll plant flowers at home,” I try to explain on my fingers to the Chinese watchman, carefully digging out another sample from the third greenhouse. The harmless uncle is only babbling something in Chinese. He works legally, but that doesn't make it any easier.
The public in the "Center for Environmental Control" agreed to make an express analysis.
“We have our own laboratory,” Natalya Voronovich, the chief ecologist of the organization, explains at the meeting.“But don’t hope to find something terrible. Do you think that since after them there are scorched strips of land, they have it filled with pesticides and heavy metals? No, no.
But our land was taken away. And they promised to give a report in two weeks.
By the way, their organization, commissioned by the Department for Economic Crimes, last year analyzed the "Chinese" soil and water in approximately the same area. At a local farmer's pond, where he put carp, carp, cupids, all the fish died, and the crayfish turned blue. The man sinned on the Chinese, who diluted their fertilizers right in the reservoir. But no known banned substances were found. Although something caused a violent growth of algae in the pond, which caused all living creatures to suffocate.
- We have already traveled to one of these farms on a complaint. Of the six samples, the excess of the norm for pesticides in only two and that is minimal, - explained "KP" and... O. environmental prosecutor in the Volgograd region Maxim Makashov. - The owners paid a fine. I admit that there may be preparations dangerous for the soil and human health. But if they are not taken into account and the norms for them are not spelled out in the documents, the prosecutor's office is powerless.
IS THE REASON FOR RAPID GROWTH - GMOs?
To be honest, we hoped that environmentalists would nevertheless find a scattering of pesticides and heavy metals in the soil we brought. So that we can come to the most important boss, put a piece of paper on the table and demand: "Kick it out!"
But the conclusion of ecologists is unambiguous. "No toxicity over a specified period (4 days)." True, that doesn't make it any easier. We read the conclusion further: "soil samples contain unknown biologically active substances", "actively stimulate the growth and development of biological objects", "the impact on the human body can be unpredictable", "depletes the upper fertile layer", "genetically modified".
- We do not know the "fertilizer" that could cause such a reaction of the same daphnia - a water flea (the effect of different drugs is tested on it in laboratories. - Ed.). The maturity of diurnal daphnia occurred on the third day at a rate of 12-14 days, the maturation of eggs in a clutch occurred on the second day at a rate of five.
It is not surprising that tomatoes and cucumbers grew several times faster in such soil.
- This is the first time I've heard about such fertilizer, - says Elena Falina, chief agronomist of the Ovoshchevod company. - Although we constantly monitor what appears on the market. There are drugs that can stimulate the appearance of ovaries - for a few days. But in order to grow so quickly, you need to absorb much more from the soil than an ordinary plant is capable of. The soil becomes depleted, it becomes empty. I'm 99 percent sure: it definitely hasn't done without GMOs. We will coordinate all our fertilizers with the Rosselkhoztsentr. They have a list of all approved pesticides, growth regulators - each drug undergoes many tests before being recommended.
But even there they could not remember such a stimulant.
- Previously, we had the right to come to any farm and check what the owner uses there, - explained to "KP" in the Volgograd Rosselkhoztsentr. - But six years ago this function was taken away from us and transferred to the Rosselkhoznadzor. People come to us rather for recommendations. But we have never dealt with either Chinese fertilizers or the Chinese themselves.
It turns out that visiting farmers are feeding us genetically modified vegetables grown on dangerous biological additives, but we don’t bother. More precisely, we blow, but somehow weakly and ineptly.
FIRE AND FLAME
In addition to the plantation that was covered after our publication, dozens of others in the region are working in full force (new harvest in September). The neighboring villages do not like this neighborhood - the stench is such that you cannot go out into the garden, and there is a pillar of dust.
- We wrote to both the regional administration and the president. They asked me to come and deal with the Chinese near our farm, - complains an official of the village administration of the Avilov farm of the Ilovlinsky district... - But there is no answer yet.
And when a man sees impunity and connivance of officials, he takes up the pitchfork. In this case, for matches. On August 24, local residents set fire to the wheels and put them on Chinese greenhouses. The fire burned the grass and damaged the film. The offended Chinese complained to the police: "The locals are surviving us." The district police officer walked around the courtyards, interrogated, but no one handed over the arsonists. And they promised to continue the terror behind their backs.
- I am afraid that the people will start organizing pogroms. People, however, see dozens of Gazelles bringing sacks of incomprehensible fertilizers. They see how their land is being poisoned, and what they do not understand, - complains the Avilov official.
SPECIFICALLY
Excerpts from the conclusion of the laboratory "Center for Environmental Control"
1. All presented soil samples contain unknown biologically active substances that actively stimulate the growth and development of biological objects, including the used laboratory culture Dahpnia magna. Presumably, in this case, growth and maturation accelerators can be used - protein-vitamin preparations of various production and origin, used in this area as fertilizer.
Their impact on the human body can be unpredictable (for example, allergic reactions, effects on a growing child's body, intestinal disorders, etc.). Rapid growth on the soil depletes the top fertile layer over the season and requires a long subsequent recovery.
2. To assess the hazard of used growth stimulants, it is necessary to request a passport for reagents, available safety certificates and information on the conduct of chronic toxicological studies of specific substances used in this area by specific manufacturers, including the presence of substances related to genetically modified (GMO).
3. In the absence of confirmed safety certificates, the production of food products by this method is unsafe for human health and the environment.
DOCTOR'S COMMENT
Irina BOGACHEVA, Deputy Chief Physician of the Volgograd Regional Oncology Center:
- It is believed that one of the causes of cancer is the use of genetically modified foods. Although the nature of the genesis of cancer has not yet been finally determined. It is influenced by many factors - from gene mutations, smoking to carcinogenic substances that are found in food. But to what extent - long-term research is needed.
HAVE AN OPINION
Natalia LATYSHEVSKAYA, ecologist, deputy of the Volgograd Regional Duma:
- If a drug is unknown and there are no studies on the safety of the consequences of its use, it should be banned. This golden rule dates back to Soviet times. And in this situation, when every year more and more products grown in an unknown way are on the shelves, large-scale work is needed to study it. Moreover, at the state level. I suppose that all this can seriously affect not only human health at the moment, but also have an impact on future generations, that is, affect the gene level of a person.
Continuing the topic
Why is a tomato addicted to a deadly chemical?
"Komsomolskaya Pravda" figured out how chemicals from the Celestial Empire get to our fields.
An incredible version was given to me by a Volgograd farmer Alexei Kupriyanov. Bad fertilizers are carried in ... pockets and handbags.
- Chinese fertilizers are sold at the Moscow markets for big money. It needs nothing at all. A kilogram is enough for a huge territory. And they take him to us in pockets and women's bags. And after it, everything grows at an incredible speed, gives a high yield.
- Have you seen this miracle chemical yourself?
- No, I haven't met it myself. And I don't want to risk it - I feel sorry for my land.
This conversation came after the publications in Komsomolskaya Pravda about the Chinese vegetable plantations that occupied the territory within a radius of 200 kilometers from Volgograd.
Thousands of hectares, on which illegal Chinese work, do not pay any taxes, steal our water and electricity, and earn billions of rubles for their owners. It is useless to fight them, which means it is not profitable for someone. They know about raids by the FMS and the police in advance. For the ostracis, of course, they catch a dozen guest workers, and two or three (oh, horror!) Are even sent home. But hundreds remain, and from year to year they master new allotments. Tomatoes and cucumbers on the "Chinese" lands give three harvests per season, and the very soil under the express vegetables turns into a barren desert.
We took an inch of this land from the greenhouse to the laboratory, and in previous publications, we introduced readers to the conclusions of the experts.
- All presented soil samples contain unknown biologically active substances that actively stimulate the growth and development of biological objects, - gave the conclusion in "Center for Environmental Control" in Volgograd. - Their impact on the human body can be unpredictable (for example, allergic reactions, effects on a growing child's body, intestinal disorders, etc.). Rapid growth on the soil depletes the top fertile layer over the season and requires a long subsequent recovery.
The laboratory could not determine the composition of the substances, because such fertilizers are not produced in Russia. How does this chemical weapon unknown to Russian science end up on the vastness of our Motherland?
On the distant shores of the Amur
To follow this path, you have to run to the Chinese border. 6 thousand kilometers separate it from Volgograd.
For Chinese farmers in our fields, the season starts in May and ends in November. Fertilizers require more than one ton. Can I smuggle them legally? The answer is immediately negative.
How does the legal scheme work? According to the rules, first the goods are inspected by the Chinese border guards, then by the Russian ones. They see if there are weapons, drugs, check the level of radiation. Then the cargo goes through customs clearance.
- Customs looks at the documents for the goods, checks the goods themselves. Depending on the code of the international classification of goods, the cargo is either passed right after the inspection (for example, a truck with slippers), or it is detained and samples are sent for examination to Rospotrebnadzor (for example, a truck with Chinese noodles). Sanitary doctors check whether the product corresponds to that specified in the document and whether it is allowed for use on the territory of the Russian Federation and the Customs Union. All this time, the owner is waiting for the results. Sometimes it takes more than one week until they give the green light to unload the goods, - says forwarder of the international transport company Dmitry Kovalenko.
According to these rules, the Chinese with their poison will not pass the border for sure. They will give the lapel a turn at the very first tests. And all for the same reason: their fertilizers are not listed in the state register permitted in Russia.
So we need to look for workarounds.
Local production
“This is a very expensive trip,” says our source in the state security agencies. - After all, the cargo is illegal, which means it is associated with additional costs. But there is information that they are going to make fertilizers with us. This will reduce the cost of the already low cost. There has already been an attempt to contact the Volgograd enterprise to set up production. Come with your formulas.
I would like to shout "Help!" Where to run, comrades? And directly to the plant.
But at Volzhsky Orgsintez (and this is the only large fertilizer producer in the region), our suspicion of having links with the Chinese was taken as an insult.
- We will not do anything of the kind. And no Chinese have contacted us, we have a clear assortment, - snapped the assistant general director.
- Any new fertilizer requires updating the entire line of production, - already explains in more detail head of the information center of the "Arkon" group (one of the largest concerns for the production of fertilizers) Tatiana Filippova... “After all, it’s not just changing components, it’s changing technology, purchasing new equipment, retraining personnel. A very expensive and time-consuming process. Nobody will undertake this so simply.
- And if not so easy, for good money? If the Chinese are going to stay with us for a long time, it is reasonable to allow “long” investments.
- Well, our plant will definitely not do it. There are enough customers, - the interlocutor is not being provoked. - And any industrial giant will not get involved with this.
And if not a giant? A possible option is to transport not fertilizer, but components. You can connect them on the territory of Russia. We called six small fertilizer companies. The answer is the same everywhere: inorganic chemistry is too tough for us.
- We sell granulated organic matter: droppings, manure, peat. There is simply no way to do something more difficult, and we do not have such specialists. The equipment is customized for specific products, says Sergey Varets, director of a small plant "Biotech". - And even if they offer a million, we will not fundamentally adapt to the Chinese. All their fertilizers are solid chemistry. They suck all the juices out of the earth. I have been to the fields where these so-called farmers have worked - wasteland. It takes 10 years of intensive treatment to restore such land.
This is almost the only case when we can be glad that we have not grown to the level of Chinese technologies. Well, thank the principled people.
When customs gives the go-ahead
So, again, all the paths lead to the Chinese border.
- The borders in the Far East and Transbaikalia are quite transparent, - says Andrey, owner of an international transport company... - Cargoes from China pass up to 1000 trucks daily. The customer can enter into the documents the name of any product, but what is actually in the bags - only God knows. Certainly not to the customs officer. For obvious reasons, it becomes uninteresting to him. They don't even look into the truck (see "From the archive" KP ").
There is another way - through Kazakhstan. The truck goes through a friendly neighbor to Russia in transit. This means that the vigilance of Kazakh customs officers on the border with China is reduced several times even for the most honest - not to them the same cargo. On the border of Kazakhstan with Russia, the customs post was removed in 2011, when Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus entered into the Customs Union. Only the border posts remained.
- And you look where the cargo comes from. Do trucks often come from China? - we phoned the border post.
- Where exactly the transit cargo comes from, we do not look. For us, according to the documents, he is always from Kazakhstan. So there is no accounting for these parameters, - the employee answered frankly.
Now the tomato season is over, but after half a year, hardworking Chinese will again crawl into endless greenhouses. And countless trucks will move across the border, of course, if one of the local manufacturers does not dare to decipher the "Chinese formula".
From the archive "KP"
In 2011, 11 customs officers were convicted in Astrakhan. They covered up a whole corruption system of crossing the border with Kazakhstan. The head of the Krasnoyarsk customs post department, Igor Okhanov, created a gang that truckers paid for travel without inspection. For many, the cargo did not correspond to the parameters specified in the declaration, neither by weight, nor by name.
Two years ago, at the Khorgos and Kalzhat customs posts on the border of China and Kazakhstan, a group of smugglers, including both customs officers and border guards, was covered. During the day, about 200 vehicles of the left cargo passed. Maybe one of them was with an unknown fertilizer.
Political scientist commentary
Sergey Pankratov, Head of the Department of Political Science, VolSU:
- The Customs Union is a logical continuation of relations between our three countries. It was created to facilitate trade relations between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.This stimulates the development of entrepreneurship, the additional burden of duties and bureaucratic delays has been removed from business. It really works. The investments of these countries in our economy have increased. But, unfortunately, there are also negative consequences of the removal of customs posts. The borders of Kazakhstan with other countries are not sufficiently strengthened, and through them illegal products enter the state. As a result, it turns out to be with us. And after the Americans withdraw their troops from Afghanistan, the flow of drug traffic through Kazakhstan to our country will only increase. But this does not mean that the borders must be closed again, it is necessary to strengthen the work of the special services in this direction. Maybe even create special departments.
