First resettlers from Imereti Lowland of Sochi move to Nekrasovskoe village

On May 4, four families from the Imereti Lowland, whose houses and land plots had been alienated because of building Olympic objects, marked their housewarming parties in new cottages in Nekrasovskoe village, Krasnodar Territory. At the same time, other Imereti residents were surprised to learn that their resettlement to new houses in Nekrasovskoe is postponed, or cancelled whatsoever.

The Stolnikov family was the first to celebrate their housewarming party. A report on the event, prepared by journalists of the New Television of Kuban (NTK), was an item of all Sochi TV news programmes. "It was our pity to leave our old house; we've lived for so long there," the head of the family shared his impressions. "We used to come here and watch the builders making this house. We expressed our desires."

The cottage, where the Stolnikov family moved in, is equipped with water supply, sewage and natural gas (so far, it is brought in bottles). The household garden has the area of 0.08 hectares.

Irina Omelchenko, an Imereti resident, was about to move into a similar cottage in Nekrasovskoe. But she learnt suddenly that other people will move into the house that was intended for her.

Other Imereti residents found themselves in a similar situation.

The State Corporation "Olympstroy" explained the situation as follows: the so-called "minimization process" was undertaken, and some houses in the Imereti Lowland, contrary to earlier decisions, will not be alienated and demolished. According to Corporation officials, it is all done under requests of Imereti residents.

As explained by the Department for Enforcing Olympic Powers of the Krasnodar Territory, starting from January 2010, in the course of preparing documents, everyone, whose alienation decision could be revised, "was informed that he or she would most likely get under the minimization programme," i.e., their houses will not be withdrawn and demolished.

Irina Omelchenko and some other Imereti residents did not receive any warnings of this sort either orally or in writing.

Nekrasovskoe village, where Imereti residents plan to move in, has commissioned 58 out of 112 cottages. But not all the resettlers, even those who were absolutely confident that the minimization process would not touch them, hurry to move in and "live in two houses - old and new ones", as the Department and State Corporation offered. The point is that even those four families, which were the first to move in Nekrasovskoe on May 4, have not yet concluded any legal deal with the state and made no mutual settlements.