Russian Constitutional Court judge wants Gazprom to foot bill for demolished homes in protected zones

Gadis Gadzhiyev, a judge on Russia’s Constitutional Court and a member of the Civil Law Codification Presidential Council, has suggested legislation that would require Gazprom to pay compensation for demolishing cottages located in gas pipelines’ protected zones. Under current laws, compensation payments for the demolition of homes near pipelines falls to local officials, who lack the means to fulfill these obligations.

The authorities in Verkhnyaya Pyshma recently appealed to the Constitutional Court, which in early July declared Russia's current system illegal and ordered lawmakers to amend the laws on compensation payments by the state. In a minority opinion, Gadzhiyev suggested assigning partial responsibility to Gazprom. According to the independent television network Dozhd, Gadzhiyev’s proposal could influence the development of new legislation on home demolitions, which the government is expected to introduce to the State Duma before the end of the year.

In recent years, hundreds of Russians who built homes on land allocated during the Soviet era have been ordered to demolish their cottages because of proximity to gas pipelines. Since the fall of Communism, Russia’s rules and regulations on protected zones have changed repeatedly. Some homeowners told Dozhd that they only learned about the illegality of their cottages after receiving a demolition order from the state.

The costs of demolishing homes located in gas pipelines’ protected zones and compensating their owners could be billions of rubles, says Dozhd.