For many unwary citizens, traveling abroad can bring unpleasant surprises: At airport terminals, people unexpectedly learn of huge debts due to traffic violation fines, alimony and other issues that prevent them from leaving the country. Three residents of the Perm Territory were even more unlucky: they were prevented from basking in the sun by Sosnovsky’s giant hogweed, which they did not remove from their land, out of ignorance or principle, because they were their masters.
Image source: Perm Territory Governor and Government website.
according to News service The Perm Territory Government ordered two plot owners to clear their territories with hogweed, and another Perm resident was ordered not only to clear his land but also to undergo five years of comprehensive agricultural technical work aimed at the complete eradication of this dangerous weed. In all three cases, these obligations were ignored, resulting in citizens being restricted from traveling abroad.
The law enforcement measures that carried out their duties bore fruit: in all three cases, the areas were cleared of hogweed, after which citizens’ freedom of movement was restored. For citizens who are ordered to take steps to destroy hogweed for five years, bailiffs will monitor enforcement of the order annually during that period. It should be understood here that we are not talking about a 6-acre villa, but a large piece of land; specifically a piece of land with an area of 15,000 square meters is mentioned.
Let us recall that the Soviet experiment in creating feed mills – that is, Sosnovsky’s giant hogweed – was extremely unsuccessful, and the fight against it is now a heavy burden not only for the state as an institution, but also for individual citizens, at their own expense. The reason the state is so intolerant of hogweed is well known: Not only is it an invasive weed that sucks useful plant nutrients from the soil, but it’s also dangerous—its sap, when in contact with skin, increases its sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation, causing biochemical burns that take a long time to heal.