Donetsk "Mezhyhirya" of Tetyana Bakhtyeyeva awaits expropriators

Donetsk "Mezhyhirya" of Tetyana Bakhtyeyeva awaits expropriators

At a time when the police in Donetsk calmly watch people being killed at rallies, when the Donetsk region is torn apart by unrest, there are politicians who find time for negotiations with separatists turned into gangs, as well as solving their personal problems.

On December 25, 2013, out of the blue at a Donetsk City Council session, it was announced: "At the request of Member of Parliament Tetyana Bakhtyeyeva and others (unnamed), we ask to remove from the session’s agenda three questions concerning land allocation to three private individuals for individual housing construction. Questions 2.78, 2.79, 2.80."

Deputies vote and exclude, at Bakhteyeva’s request, the three questions from the agenda. We asked for a long time: what was that? Without any reasoning, simply at Bakhtyeyeva’s word, managing who gets land in Donetsk and who doesn’t?

Obviously, the victims themselves learned of our surprise, and four months later they approached us with the question: could you help us sort it out? We agreed. And that’s when we started receiving messages from all sides that we should not investigate, should not offend Tetyana, she has relatives living there, and construction nearby is an inconvenience. We were explained that Tetyana should be spared, while these three individuals should look for plots elsewhere. We did not take this at face value and began to verify where exactly Bakhtyeyeva’s relatives could be living.

Not far from the city center in the Kuibyshev district is Vareykisa Street. It was there that Bakhtyeyeva, for some reason, did not let three Donetsk residents receive less than 10 acres of land each. These three individuals were again refused on 04/18/2014 at the Donetsk City Council session. The issue was reintroduced to the agenda because the documents had been processed for four years, with no grounds to deny the allocation. Yet again, Deputy Prozorov requests not to allocate. Voting takes place without clarity. The decision is not made, but many say it’s unclear what was voted on: allocating plots or denying this. Deputies were not allowed to re-vote. We were later told about some complaint from the communists. In the Google search engine, if you carefully look at the 3D street plans (Google Maps has this great feature), it becomes clear that in Vareykisa Street, Donetsk, communism has indeed arrived.

The urban cadastre didn’t clarify the situation but confused it—communism has arrived on Vareykisa Street, but in some fifth dimension because officially land is allocated throughout the block for only four plots (marked in orange), yet large brand-new houses occupy half the land. But the Donetsk City Council decisions allocated land only for these four plots of 10 acres each. This is a poltergeist for you. There is, in truth, a scheme when in 2009-2011 one could (and occasionally still can) allocate land without the city council through court, obliging the State Land Committee to issue an act. But here, it’s generally inconsistent. See for yourself. 

Land allocated only for four plots in the block, but permits (notice or declaration) for construction were obtained by only two owners—Vareykisa 96 and Frunze 77. Frunze 77 has construction documents filed, but land was not allocated by the city council.

This is all wonderful, but where might Bakhtyeyeva’s relatives live? Well, there’s no smoke without fire; it needs to be checked. We found the most intriguing house (I would call it a palace, but there are also noble chambers, a gazebo, and many, many buildings, meaning not just one house but many together). Judge for yourselves:

It’s just unclear: the land on which all this «wealth» with characteristic national ornament is situated was allocated only to citizen Lebedyeva Mariya in 2009, amounting to 843 m2. Only Lebedyeva submitted a notice about the start of construction. The structure is positioned across a whole complex of buildings, including Lebedyeva M. S.’s plot at half a hectare. Apparently, these lands were either allocated or got stuck in the allocation process for Priyaznyuk V. M, Voronkova S. E., Kuby A. P., and Rudenko G. M. However, the fence around the entire half-hectare is one.

Yet to not allocate 30 acres of available land nearby to three Donetsk residents, Donetsk City Council Member A. Prozorov at the session on 04/18/2014 claimed that the resident neighbors are so outraged, so outraged at the prospect of land allocation to someone, they say, a stream runs there, so building is impossible. I won’t comment on the stream. These «neighbors» are trying to turn a stream into a river and unsuccessfully apply the BRN which talks about setbacks from water bodies. There’s nothing to comment on here. But who are these «neighbors»? We searched and searched... At Frunze, 81, the city council did not pass a decision on land allocation, nobody submitted a construction notice, yet a new house stands. Frunze, 77, Direnko Svitlana arranged all building documents and had them put into operation as early as 2011, but... the city council did not allocate land to her.

But there are more interesting neighbors—«Six in one», namely—surrounded by one fence Vareykisa 86, 88, 90, 92, 94, 96. This complex is comprised of several buildings. Is it here that Tetyana’s relatives reside? Documents show that all this «wealth» is situated, again pointing out, on 843 m2. Or a second option—the complex is located on five land plots if somehow they were allocated without a city council decision. Only a small corner house (Vareykisa, 96) has been put into operation. How to understand this?

You might ask, why would Bakhtyeyeva start such a scandal if everything is so bad with the documents? See, there are people who believe that whatever they do, nothing will happen to them because they are big, they are the owners, they are the leaders in the area. It’s bad when people with such an intellectual level become leaders, enter politics, and start making decisions for others.

P. S. The material was published in strict accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Personal Data Protection" Article 5 part 3 (Information on receiving in any form by a natural person of budget funds, state or communal property is not subject to restricted access), the Law of Ukraine "On Access to Public Information" Article 6 (Access to information on the disposal of budgetary funds, ownership, use, or disposal of state, communal property, including to copies of relevant documents, conditions for receiving these funds or property, surnames, names, patronymics of individuals and names of legal entities that received these funds or property cannot be restricted), the Law of Ukraine "On Information" Articles 5, 11, 29.

Nataliya Kashkevych ("Union of Builders of Donbas"), article published in

No Corruption!