New Land Relations In Modern Russia Bring New Tasks for Soil Forensic Examination.

Soil forensic examination arose in the Russian federation more than 35 years ago in the times of the Soviet Union. Formerly and currently the bulk of forensic soil examinations deal with serious offenses against persons. In the last couple of years, land reform has been carried out in the Russian Federation and a number of new land law acts have been adopted. Since land became personal property it can now be sold and it has become the subject of frauds, judicial proceedings and settlements. New land relations that are currently developing in market economy conditions in modern Russia bring new tasks for soil forensic examination.

Land cost strongly depends on a categorical value or a category for use to which it is assigned. All lands in Russia are divided into seven categories: agricultural use, settlements, industrial and other special use, particularly protected territories (including objects of cultural and historical value), forest resources, water resources and reserved lands. All operations with land plots (including transfer from one category to another) have been strictly regulated by law only since 2005.

There are a number of judicial settlements and proceedings today that are connected with land transfer/unlawful taking of lands, illegal digging on particularly protected territories and different land frauds with very complicated land sale schemes. Forensic soil examination is very important in court decisions involving these types of cases.  

We will try to illustrate these with examples from our expert practice.