Introduction: defining the problem of the legal status of USSR citizens
Decree No. 521 of 27 July 2026 amends the list of border territories approved by Decree No. 26 of 9 January 2011. The lecture discusses restrictions on land ownership by foreign citizens, stateless persons and foreign legal entities in those territories. The Academy treats USSR citizens as foreign citizens for the Russian system and connects the act under discussion with their land rights. At the same time, the author challenges the basis of the list itself, drawing on the position that the former RF trading company has no state border or lawful territory.
The USSR Civil Defence Academy views the current situation as a direct encroachment on the property rights of citizens of the Soviet Union. Decree No. 521 imposes no lawful restrictions on them because it was issued by a body that does not possess state sovereignty. USSR citizens live on their own land — the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which is a subject of international legal relations. Their status as sovereign citizens of the USSR cannot be revoked by an act of a trading company operating outside the framework of state law.
The key to understanding the problem lies in two interrelated questions: borders and coordinate systems. In 2017, the former trading company, the Russian Federation, definitively lost its status as a temporary state body and its maritime statute, and since 2023 it has existed under liquidation and bankruptcy proceedings, having been re-registered within the sovereign jurisdiction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under the State Treasury of the Soviet Union as the Soviet state cooperative enterprise Russian Federation-Russia. In this capacity, it is not a state and cannot issue acts that diminish the rights of USSR citizens.
The SK-63 coordinate system, in which the former trading company existed as within a local coordinate system, MSK, was abolished by Resolution No. 378-85 of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers of 25 March 1987. This system contained no citizens, finances, state territories or borders, and the establishment of cadastres and registers was prohibited. The Russian classification systems AKATO and OKTMO were abolished with effect from 1 January 2019 in favour of the USSR classification systems (SAAT), approved by the USSR Council of Ministers on 18 December 1973. Consequently, the cadastral division on which Decree No. 521 relies has no legal basis.
It is also telling that Resolution No. 914 of 18 June 2025 of the former trading company’s digital government, approving the list of geographical coordinates and points defining the position of the baselines, is invalid and void and remains unsigned. The baselines for measuring the breadth of territorial waters, the economic zone and the continental shelf were established by Resolution No. 56/22 of the USSR Council of Ministers of 15 January 1985. This fact further confirms that the former trading company has no lawful territory or state border of its own.
The purpose of this article is to explain the legal grounds and consequences of Decree No. 521 in the context of the coordinate system and classification systems. It is necessary to demonstrate that the former trading company has no state border or lawful territory and that its acts have no legal effect on citizens of the Soviet Union. The USSR Civil Defence Academy’s objectives are to provide legal education to the population, explain the coordinate system and classification systems, and protect Soviet Union citizens’ rights to land in accordance with Soviet legislation.
The former trading company’s lack of a state border and lawful territory
Under the position set out in the lecture, the closed former trading company “Russian Federation” is not a state in the international arena. This is neither a secret nor news, but a statement of facts. Accordingly, it has no territory, population or state borders of its own. This circumstance has a direct and decisive bearing on the assessment of any acts issued by its bodies, including those concerning land relations and the designation of border territories.
In 2017, the former trading company, the Russian Federation, definitively lost its status as a temporary state body and its maritime statute, passing into British jurisdiction as a trading company and operating under the administrative regulations of the British kingdom. Subsequently, in 2023, it began to exist temporarily under liquidation and bankruptcy proceedings and was re-registered from Anglo-British jurisdiction into the sovereign jurisdiction of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under the State Treasury of the Soviet Union as the Soviet state cooperative enterprise ‘Russian Federation — Russia’. This is precisely the capacity in which it appears in the register.
Having rejected and disregarded international law, the former trading company, the Russian Federation, which generates public authority rather than state authority, began to exist in virtual space — having no territory of its own and no connection whatsoever to planet Earth. Its activities are unlawful and take place under an experimental legal regime, in extraterrestrial, imaginary, simulated and fictitious coordinate systems. This is confirmed, in particular, by the trading company’s own Resolution No. 1240 of 24 November 2016, ‘On the Establishment of State Coordinate Systems, a Height System and a Gravimetric System’.
Under the aforementioned Resolution No. 1240, the unified geodetic coordinate system of 1942 (SK-42) was used in the former trading company, the Russian Federation, until 1 January 2021, while the SK-63 coordinate system, in which the trading company, the Russian Federation, existed as within a local coordinate system (MSK), was abolished by Resolution No. 378-85 of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers of 25 March 1987. Only entities existed within MSK — there were no citizens there, nor could there have been a single citizen, still less a citizen of the Soviet Union; there were no finances, state territories and borders, or cities. The use of topographic, geodetic and cartographic materials and data created within this system was permitted only temporarily, for conducting commercial activities beyond the land, without creating new materials and data and without the right to establish cadastres and registers.
Thus, if the former trading company, the Russian Federation, existed unlawfully within the SK-63 coordinate system, temporarily operating within MSK, where the introduction of cadastres and registers was prohibited, then neither the cadastres nor the registers of the Russian Federation can be considered lawful. This leads directly to the conclusion that cadastral division and registration actions based on abolished coordinate systems are invalid.
The former closed trading company, the Russian Federation, has no geographical points or islands and no geographical reference whatsoever. Consequently, it has no territorial seas, mainland coastal zones or islands supposedly belonging to the Russian Federation. All territorial seas, mainland coastal zones and islands lawfully and sovereignly form part of the possessions of the Soviet Union — the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This is the sovereign power and state of the victorious people, a subject of international legal relations, where holders of an uninterrupted lifetime right, bearing the title of sovereign citizen of the USSR — free men and women at liberty — live on their own land.
Resolution No. 914 of 18 June 2025 of the digital government of the former trading company, the Russian Federation, ‘On Approval of the List of Geographical Coordinates and Points Defining the Position of the Baselines from Which the Breadth of the Territorial Sea off the Mainland Coast and Islands of the Russian Federation Is Measured’, is invalid and void and remains unsigned by the digital prime minister of the closed trading company, the Russian Federation. The baselines for measuring the breadth of the Soviet Union’s territorial waters, economic zone and continental shelf, including those off the mainland coast and islands of the Arctic Ocean and the Baltic and Black Seas, were approved by Resolution No. 56/22 of the USSR Council of Ministers of 15 January 1985. This is a clear delineation of the Soviet state, not any other lines.
The closed former trading company has no border of its own and, naturally, no lawful territory of its own, including on the continental shelf. Therefore, no border territories can, in principle, exist: the closed trading company, the Russian Federation, lacks a state border and has none. The names appearing in decrees on border territories are not included as such in the All-Union Classification System — the System for Designating Units of the Administrative and Territorial Division of the Soviet Union and the Union Republics, and Populated Places (SAAT). The Russian classification systems AKATO and OKTMO were abolished by the international regulator with effect from 2019, further confirming that arrangements based on them are legally untenable.
The foregoing has direct practical significance for citizens of the Soviet Union. Any actions by the former trading company aimed at establishing borders, border territories, baselines, or cadastral and registration regimes have no legal basis, since they are undertaken by an entity that has no state territory or border. USSR citizens retain their sovereign status and the rights arising from Soviet legislation, while attempts to reclassify them as foreigners have no legal effect.
Coordinate systems and classification systems: why cadastral division is legally untenable
In discussing cadastral division, the Academy refers to SK-63 as a local coordinate system (MSK), rather than to two separate systems. The author stresses that the system described contained entities but no citizens, finances, state territories, borders or cities. This is then compared with the conditions for using materials created within it following Resolution No. 378-85 of 25 March 1987.
The key legal fact is that the SK-63 system, within which the former trading company existed as a local coordinate system, MSK, was abolished by Resolution No. 378-85 of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers of 25 March 1987. That same act permitted only the use of topographic, geodetic and cartographic materials and data created within it — temporarily, for conducting commercial activities beyond the land, without creating new materials and data. Crucially, the establishment of cadastres and registers within this system was prohibited. Consequently, any cadastres and registers maintained by the former trading company within the MSK system have lacked a legal basis from the outset. They have no legal effect and cannot serve as evidence of the existence of rights to land.
The All-Union Classification System — the System for Designating Units of the Administrative and Territorial Division of the Soviet Union and the Union Republics, and Populated Places (SAAT) — was approved and introduced by the USSR Council of Ministers on 18 December 1973. It used codes for regions of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) under republican jurisdiction: krais were designated by codes 01–08, oblasts and cities under republican jurisdiction by codes 10–78, and autonomous republics by codes 80–98. This classification system is a legal instrument of the Soviet state that remains in force. The border territories mentioned in the decrees of the former trading company are not included in the All-Union Classification System SAAT and are not recorded as such.
The Russian classification systems AKATO and OKTMO, on which the former trading company relied, were abolished with effect from 1 January 2019 in favour of the USSR classification systems. Their creation and temporary existence were acknowledged as knowingly unlawful even by the American side in its capacity as regulator of the former trading company’s legal system. Furthermore, with effect from 1 January 2017, the procedure for the cadastral division of territory and the procedure for assigning cadastral numbers to immovable property and registration and register numbers to boundaries were abolished. Rosreestr’s cadastral and registration activities ceased with effect from 1 January 2020. Ministry of Economic Development Order No. 643 of 14 September 2023, repealing Orders No. 877 of 24 November 2015 and No. 634 of 16 November 2018, is cited separately.
Thus, the entire chain of cadastral and register records on which Decree No. 521 relies has been constructed within coordinate systems and classification systems that have been abolished, prohibited and are no longer in force. Cadastral division carried out within SK-63 as a local coordinate system (MSK) is legally void because establishing cadastres and registers within that system was prohibited. The AKATO and OKTMO classification systems, abolished with effect from 1 January 2019, cannot serve as a basis for defining border territories. Consequently, the very list of border territories amended by Decree No. 521 has no lawful legal basis. Citizens of the Soviet Union cannot be classified as foreign nationals on the basis of documents issued within a non-existent legal system.
For citizens of the Soviet Union, the practical conclusion is that any restrictions on rights to land plots introduced by Decree No. 521 are invalid because they are based on cadastral division carried out within abolished coordinate systems and using abolished classification systems. In this assessment, the Academy refers to Soviet legislation and uses SAAT to compare the designations of territorial units. The USSR Civil Defence Academy explains to the population that the coordinate system and classification systems are not abstract technical concepts, but legal foundations on which the recognition or non-recognition of rights to land depends. Understanding this connection enables citizens of the Soviet Union to defend their rights confidently and resist legally untenable constructs based on abolished and prohibited record-keeping systems.
Decree No. 521 of 27 July 2026: content and legal consequences
Decree No. 521 of 27 July 2026 amends the list under Decree No. 26 of 9 January 2011. It concerns border territories where foreign citizens, stateless persons and foreign legal entities may not own land. The author treats USSR citizens as foreigners for the Russian system. It is in this sense that the Academy connects the decree with Soviet citizens’ property rights.
The Academy connects the severity of the restriction with the fact that USSR citizens live on what it regards as their own Soviet land but are treated as foreigners by the Russian system. In challenging this arrangement, the author also challenges the basis of the list of border territories itself.
However, the application of Decree No. 521 encounters a fundamental obstacle: the former closed trading company ‘Russian Federation’ has no state border. Border territories cannot, in principle, exist if there is no border itself. Consequently, the list of border territories being amended has no objective basis. The decree attempts to regulate relations in territories that have no lawful status as border territories, since they are not included in the All-Union Classification System — the System for Designating Units of the Administrative and Territorial Division of the Soviet Union and the Union Republics, and Populated Places (SAAT).
Furthermore, the Russian classification systems AKATO and OKTMO, on which the former trading company’s cadastral division was based, were abolished with effect from 1 January 2019 in favour of the USSR classification systems. This means that the cadastral division underpinning Decree No. 521 is legally void. According to the lecture, the territories mentioned in the decree are not recorded in SAAT as RF border territories. Thus, Decree No. 521 produces no lawful legal effects, while its application leads to violations of the rights of citizens of the Soviet Union.
It is telling that Decree No. 521 appeared when the baselines for measuring the breadth of territorial waters, the economic zone and the continental shelf are established by Resolution No. 56/22 of the USSR Council of Ministers of 15 January 1985. Resolution No. 914 of the former trading company’s digital government of 18 June 2025, which sought to approve a list of geographical coordinates and points defining the position of the baselines, is invalid and void, and remained unsigned.
The Academy challenges the basis of Decree No. 521 and the restrictions on land ownership in the listed border territories, which affect USSR citizens as foreigners for the Russian system. These actions can have no legal force, since the former trading company has no state border or lawful territory. USSR citizens’ rights to land are determined by Soviet legislation and must be restored and protected. The USSR Civil Defence Academy consistently explains to the public the unlawful nature of such acts and the need to restore the sovereignty of the Soviet Union in full.
Invalidity of Resolution No. 914 and the Question of RF Baselines
Resolution No. 914 of the digital government of the former trading company ‘Russian Federation’ of 18 June 2025, approving a list of geographical coordinates and points defining the position of the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea off the mainland coast and islands is measured, is invalid and void. It remained unsigned by the former trading company’s digital prime minister. This document produces no legal effects and cannot serve as the basis for any legal action. Its very appearance within the legal framework is meaningless, since it originates from an organisation that has neither state status nor lawful territory.
The baselines for measuring the breadth of the Soviet Union’s territorial waters, economic zone and continental shelf, including off the mainland coast and islands of the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, were approved by Resolution No. 56/22 of the USSR Council of Ministers of 15 January 1985. This resolution remains in force and determines the legal regime governing the Soviet Union’s maritime areas. No other acts issued by the former trading company can amend or repeal these established Soviet rules. Soviet legislation alone provides the legal basis for defining maritime areas, including territorial waters, the economic zone and the continental shelf.
The former trading company’s lack of baselines is directly linked to its lack of a state border and lawful territory. Since the former closed trading company ‘Russian Federation’ is not a state and has no territory, population or state borders of its own, it cannot establish baselines for measuring maritime areas. All territorial seas, mainland coastal zones and islands lawfully belong to the Soviet Union under its sovereignty. This point is of fundamental importance: establishing baselines is the sovereign right of a state, not of a commercial organisation, even if it imitates state functions.
Resolution No. 914 is an attempt by the former trading company’s digital government to create the appearance of legal regulation of maritime areas. However, since the trading company itself exists in virtual space, with no connection to planet Earth, any of its acts concerning geographical coordinates and baselines have no legal foundation. They cannot produce legal effects for citizens of the Soviet Union or for the USSR’s sovereign maritime areas. Furthermore, the absence of the digital prime minister’s signature renders this document legally void from the moment of its appearance, further confirming its inability to affect the legal regime governing maritime areas.
The lecture describes SK-63 as a local coordinate system (MSK), abolished by Resolution No. 378-85 of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers of 25 March 1987. The author stresses that it contained no citizens, finances, state territories or borders, and that establishing cadastres and registers was prohibited while existing materials could be used temporarily. Separately, the Russian AKATO and OKTMO classification systems are described as abolished in favour of USSR classification systems from 1 January 2019.
Thus, the baselines established by Soviet legislation remain the only lawful baselines in force. Resolution No. 914 is invalid and void, and the baselines for measuring the breadth of territorial waters, the economic zone and the continental shelf are determined exclusively by Resolution No. 56/22 of the USSR Council of Ministers of 15 January 1985. This provision has direct significance for protecting the sovereignty of the Soviet Union and the rights of its citizens. Any attempts by the former trading company to establish baselines must be regarded as unlawful interference with the sovereign rights of the Soviet Union and can have no legal force.
The Academy links the protection of USSR citizens’ rights with the Soviet legal framework for territory and maritime areas. Decree No. 521 of 27 July 2026 is considered as a restriction on land ownership for specified categories of persons in the listed border territories; the author treats USSR citizens as foreigners for the Russian system. The objection to applying the list rests on the lecture’s assessment that the RF has no state border and on the comparison with SAAT.
In this connection, the USSR Civil Defence Academy sets itself the tasks of providing legal education to the public, explaining the coordinate and classification systems, and protecting the rights of citizens of the Soviet Union. Recognition of USSR sovereignty and the restoration of citizens’ rights to land in accordance with Soviet legislation must be pursued. Citizens must clearly understand that the baselines established by Resolution No. 56/22 of the USSR Council of Ministers of 15 January 1985 constitute an inviolable legal foundation, while any acts of the former trading company, including Resolution No. 914, are invalid and void.
Consequences for USSR citizens: loss of land rights and the need to restore sovereignty
Decree No. 521 of 27 July 2026 amends the list approved by Decree No. 26 of 9 January 2011. The provision discussed concerns the inability of foreign citizens, stateless persons and foreign legal entities to own land in the listed border territories. According to the Academy’s explanation, the Russian system treats USSR citizens as foreigners. The author therefore connects this issue with the protection of their property rights on Soviet territory.
However, these actions are inherently unlawful, since the former closed trading company ‘Russian Federation’ is not a state and has no state border. Border territories cannot, in principle, exist because the very border they should adjoin is absent. Consequently, any legislation or regulations establishing a special regime for border territories lack a factual and legal foundation. Decree No. 521 produces no legal effects for USSR citizens, since it was issued by a body without lawful territorial jurisdiction.
Furthermore, the cadastral division underpinning Decree No. 521 is legally void. The Russian classification systems AKATO and OKTMO were abolished with effect from 1 January 2019 in favour of the USSR classification systems (SAAT), approved on 18 December 1973. The border territories mentioned in the decree do not appear in the All-Union Classification System. This confirms that the list approved by Decree No. 26 of 9 January 2011 has no force within the Soviet Union’s legal framework. USSR citizens retain their rights to land in accordance with Soviet legislation, which remains the sole legal basis for regulating land relations.
It must also be taken into account that the baselines for measuring the breadth of the Soviet Union’s territorial waters, economic zone and continental shelf are established by Resolution No. 56/22 of the USSR Council of Ministers of 15 January 1985. Resolution No. 914 of the former trading company’s digital government of 18 June 2025, purportedly approving a list of geographical coordinates and points defining the position of the baselines, is invalid and void, and remained unsigned.
The Academy stresses the continuing status of USSR citizens as holders of uninterrupted lifelong rights living on their own Soviet territory. It considers the question of land restrictions in connection with that status and with the lecture’s assessment of RF acts on border territories.
In this connection, the USSR Civil Defence Academy sets itself the task of providing legal education to the public. Citizens must be made aware that Decree No. 521 has no lawful force and that their rights to land remain fully intact. It is also important to explain the coordinate and classification systems so that citizens understand why Russian cadastres and registers cannot serve as grounds for depriving them of their property. Protecting the rights of citizens of the Soviet Union to land is one of the Academy’s key tasks under present conditions.
Thus, Decree No. 521 of 27 July 2026 provides further confirmation that the former trading company has no state border or lawful territory. Equating USSR citizens with foreigners and depriving them of their rights to land are unlawful actions that produce no legal effects. Citizens of the Soviet Union retain their rights to land plots in accordance with Soviet legislation. The restoration of USSR sovereignty and the Soviet legal order is a necessary condition for the full restoration of these rights.
Conclusion: legal certainty and the tasks of the USSR Civil Defence Academy
In its final assessment, the Academy challenges the jurisdictional basis of Decree No. 521 of 27 July 2026. The author discusses restrictions on land ownership by foreign citizens, stateless persons and foreign legal entities in the listed border territories, treating USSR citizens as foreigners for the Russian system. The objection is linked to the argument that the former RF trading company has no state border and that the territories in the list are not included in SAAT in that capacity.
The SK-63 system, described in the lecture as a local coordinate system (MSK), was abolished by Resolution No. 378-85 of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers of 25 March 1987. The author points to its lack of citizens, finances, state territories and borders and to the prohibition on establishing cadastres and registers. The Russian AKATO and OKTMO classification systems are described as abolished in favour of USSR classification systems from 1 January 2019, while SAAT is identified as the all-Union system approved on 18 December 1973.
The baselines for measuring the breadth of the Soviet Union’s territorial waters, economic zone and continental shelf are established by Resolution No. 56/22 of the USSR Council of Ministers of 15 January 1985. Resolution No. 914 of the former trading company’s digital government of 18 June 2025, approving a list of geographical coordinates and points defining the position of the baselines, is invalid and void, and remained unsigned. The former trading company’s lack of a state border and lawful territory makes it impossible for it to establish baselines. Soviet legislation remains the sole legal basis for defining maritime areas.
Thus, Decree No. 521 produces no lawful effects and violates USSR citizens’ rights to land. Citizens of the Soviet Union retain their land rights in accordance with Soviet legislation. These actions are unlawful, since the former trading company has no state border or lawful territory.
Under these conditions, the USSR Civil Defence Academy faces the tasks of providing legal education to the public, explaining the coordinate and classification systems, and protecting the rights of citizens of the Soviet Union. The Academy provides legal education to the public and protects the rights of citizens of the Soviet Union, explaining the legal grounds and consequences of the decree on the basis of Soviet legislation and the All-Union classification systems.
More articles based on lectures by the USSR Civil Defence Academy: https://tass.news/category/ussr/ussr-civil-defense-academy/
