CRI听力:Russia to Give Large Areas of Land in the Far East to Its Citizens for Free

Russia's vast Far Eastern region occupies one third of Russia – the biggest country in the world covering over 17 million square kilometers. Experts say while this area holds huge economic potential – it also lacks investment – and people.

Alexander Krutikov is a deputy director of Russia's Far Eastern Development ministry.

"Russia's Far East occupies one third of the Russian Federation, six million square kilometers, where some 6 million Russian citizens live. This means one person per square kilometer."

In 2016, the ministry wants to start distributing land in the Far East for free. Any Russian citizen can apply and receive up to one hectare of land – and in five years, the government promises them free ownership.

"Together with all-Russia center for public opinion we conducted a poll on the interest to this project and 20% of the respondents confirmed that if they are given free land they are willing to consider moving to the Far East. That's almost 30 million citizens."

The government has launched a campaign to attract people to the initiative - from weather forecasts on television explaining that the weather in the region is not that cold - not much colder than in the Western part of the country.

Alexei Maslov is a professor of the School of Asian Studies of Higher School of Economics.

"A lot of people want to move back to central part, to the European part of Russia. So one of the main problem is to change the public opinion, to change the mentality of moving from East to West."

In September, Moscow also organized its first Eastern Economic Development Forum in Vladivostok to attract investors from Asia – and said this forum will now happen every year.

Meanwhile, the population of Russia's Far Eastern region continues to shrink – it is now almost half the number of Moscow's population of 11 million.

Experts say that while the new government initiative could provide a welcome development for the region – it may take years before it bears fruit.

Anya Ardayeva, CRI, Moscow.