War And Theft: The Takeover of Ukrainian Land

There have been numerous reports of Ukrainian land being taken over by foreign interests or being owned by oligarchs, a term more commonly used these days to describe big capitalists. Two members of the European Parliament, Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, both from Ireland, have pointed out that the Ukrainian people with be paying for the aid they have received from the US and the its NATO allies for decades to come. The US defense and energy giants are also raking in huge profits and have no interest in ending this conflict at this point. They will fight to the last Ukrainian standing.

This report from the Oakland Institute goes in to further detail describing this process of the privatization of Ukrainian land. Here is the introduction to it and a link to the PDF of the report is below.  Richard Mellor FFWP Admin

War And Theft
The Takeover of Ukrainian Land
Oakland Institute 2-21-23

 

 

February 21, 2023

War and Theft: The Takeover of Ukraine’s Agricultural Land, exposes the financial interests and the dynamics at play leading to further concentration of land and finance.

The total amount of land controlled by oligarchs, corrupt individuals, and large agribusinesses is over nine million hectares — exceeding 28 percent of Ukraine’s arable land. The largest landholders are a mix of Ukrainian oligarchs and foreign interests — mostly European and North American as well as the sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia. Prominent US pension funds, foundations, and university endowments are invested through NCH Capital, a US-based private equity fund.

Several agribusinesses, still largely controlled by oligarchs, have opened up to Western banks and investment funds — including prominent ones such as Kopernik, BNP, or Vanguard — who now control part of their shares. Most of the large landholders are substantially indebted to Western funds and institutions, notably the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank.

Western financing to Ukraine in recent years has been tied to a drastic structural adjustment program that has required austerity and privatization measures, including the creation of a land market for the sale of agricultural land. President Zelenskyy put the land reform into law in 2020 against the will of the vast majority of the population who feared it would exacerbate corruption and reinforce control by powerful interests in the agricultural sector. Findings of the report concur with these concerns. While large landholders are securing massive financing from Western financial institutions, Ukrainian farmers — essential for ensuring domestic food supply — receive virtually no support. With the land market in place, amidst high economic stress and war, this difference of treatment will lead to more land consolidation by large agribusinesses.

The report also sounds the alarm that Ukraine’s crippling debt is being used as a leverage by the financial institutions to drive post-war reconstruction towards further privatization and liberalization reforms in several sectors, including agriculture.

Here is a link to the this report in PDF file format