The cassation court confirmed the seizure of land and demolition of houses in the village "Burevestnik".
The cassation court refused to satisfy the complaints of more than 40 residents of the village "Burevestnik" in the Tuapse district and upheld the decisions on land seizure and demolition of houses. The residents contested the recognition of the buildings as unauthorized.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on October 11, it became known about the beginning of forced demolition of cottages in the village "Burevestnik" near the village of Olginka in the Tuapse district. In December 2025, the court ruled to demolish the houses and transfer the land plots to the state. Property owners, who claimed they received the plots legally, appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to protect their rights, and in September of this year, they filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court.
The residents of the village "Burevestnik" associate the court proceedings regarding the seizure of land plots with a conflict over access to the sea through the territory of the nearby sanatorium of the Federal Bailiff Service "Green Valley". According to the residents, in 2020, the management of the sanatorium blocked the underground passage they used to the beach, leading to legal disputes. In February 2024, the court upheld the servitudes established by the local administration, allowing residents to access the sea; however, about 20 days later, the administration canceled them at the request of the prosecutor's office. In the spring of 2024, the authorities demanded the demolition of part of the buildings in "Burevestnik", and later the prosecutor's office filed a lawsuit demanding the seizure of the plots and demolition of the houses, reported "Krasnodar Online" on April 20.
The Fourth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction upheld the court decisions on the reclamation of land plots into the ownership of the authorities of the Krasnodar Territory and the demolition of buildings in the cottage village "Burevestnik", reported the RAPS agency on October 16, citing the court's press service.
More than 40 defendants filed cassation complaints. They insisted on the cancellation of the court acts, pointing to violations of procedural rights, contested the conclusions about the unauthorized nature of the buildings, and the results of the judicial examination. The owners also stated that the courts did not differentiate between those who participated in the initial registration of the plots and those who subsequently inherited or received them as gifts, reported "Kuban News" on October 16.
The cassation panel found no grounds for overturning the decisions of the lower courts and left them unchanged, as stated in the publication.
According to the case materials, the land plot of 0.5 hectares was initially allocated to the company "Surgutspetszhilstroy" for the construction of garages and a base. Subsequently, the land passed to the successor, was divided into plots, and sold to private individuals. In the late 2010s, municipal authorities changed the permitted use of part of the plots to construction and operation of cottages, after which active construction began.
The courts established that the disputed plots are located in the sanitary protection zone of the resorts of the Tuapse district and overlap with forest fund lands. They concluded that these lands could not be transferred to private ownership for purposes unrelated to resort treatment, and that construction was carried out in violation of urban planning requirements, creating a threat to safety.
On this basis, the Tuapse District Court ruled to reclaim the plots, recognized the constructed buildings as unauthorized constructions, and ordered their demolition within 30 days after the decision comes into legal force. The appellate instance supported this decision.
It should be noted that mass land seizures in the Krasnodar Territory are not uncommon; they are related, in particular, to the case of fraud involving lands of the Sochi National Park: 11,066 land plots were seized, including plots allocated by the authorities to large families, after which the courts began to deprive owners of their property rights to these lands en masse, as stated in the "Caucasian Knot" report "The struggle of Sochi residents for lands in the national park". In January 2025, the Constitutional Court ruled that the authorities must either retain the land plot that has fallen within the boundaries of the National Park for its owner or provide compensation if there is no evidence that the plot was acquired dishonestly.