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One day I went to work for a small and naturally proud radio station in Anadyr, Chukotka. I did not know anything about this place, and the decision to travel was made and executed within three days. So in early September, I suddenly found myself eighteen years old in a plane flying nine hours to the very ends of the earth. Sitting next to me was a man with a beard who was accompanying his nine adopted children and his wife on a trip to Russian monasteries. To me, he, too, was immediately imbued with paternal feelings and offered to call if you need a kettle or curtains. He also gave useful advice: eat a lot of carrots, otherwise I will return without teeth. All my acquaintances in Anadyr later turned out to be people with a full set of teeth and did not experience any problems. Except for one colleague who had his teeth knocked out by disgruntled Chukchi radio listeners.
I like to illustrate my three-year life in Chukotka with several stories. The first is about the blizzard.
A blizzard in Chukotka is a real natural disaster, though a common one. Everyone knows what to do, how to behave and how not to get lost. True, they still get lost regularly. During a blizzard, it becomes warm, around minus three, a strong wind rises, which throws snow, window sills, and small dogs in all directions. I first encountered a snowstorm one morning on my way to work. At first it was bearable to walk between the houses. Difficult, of course: it seemed that the wind would knock you off your feet, but I moved forward. When I approached the main (one of the two) city intersections, I realized that I could not take a step. If I lift even one foot off the ground, I will be carried to the other side of the city (not that far, to be honest). I hugged the traffic light with my hands and decided to wait for the end of the blizzard (it will come in twelve hours). A huge man walked past me with a tiny schoolboy tied to him with a rope. Perpendicular to me, a woman crossed the road on all fours. As soon as I decided to give myself completely into the hands of a panic attack, I was torn off the ground: another huge man grabbed me in an armful (one hand) and carried me across the road. Perhaps he said something like: "Let me carry you through this tearing light wind" - but during a blizzard the noise is impossible. Long story short, he carried me to a solid line as the wind knocked us both off our feet. Then we moved on all fours. On the other side of the wind, a house hid us a little, and we crawled away about our business.
Perhaps the best thing I brought from Chukotka is the ability to drive a dog sled. I was walking somehow not far from Anadyr and saw a yaranga placed on the shore of the estuary. A dry old man Vladimir was found in the yaranga. The first thing that caught my eye was his beard. It was braided into two pigtails tied with a knot. Vladimir explained that he had promised himself not to cut his beard until he had finished his translation of The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The fact is that Vladimir is sure that the Chukchi language is a slightly modified version of Old Russian. And proceeding from this, the meaning of the entire text of the Lay becomes completely different. He was engaged in translation when he was not a musher, that is, the owner and driver of a dog team. Vladimir gave tea with tundra berries to drink, played the button accordion, and read some of his translation. And offered to take a ride. The team that I got had two leaders: Bochka and Beard. How they ran! Sled dogs begin to feel tired only after the first hundred kilometers, and running on a snowy plain is their favorite pastime.
A short course in managing a dog sled: to the right - you shout “sweat-sweat”, to the left - throaty “khhh”, quickly straight ahead - any loud cheerful sounds. Therefore, in our skating, we were an amazing sight: three sleds, fifty dogs, people screaming, singing, laughing.
The first time I was allowed to go by myself only after a few training sessions. Everything was going well until I jumped off the sled to run next to the team: this, according to Vladimir, relieves the burden on the dogs, they will move faster. Try to jump off the sled when they are rushing at full speed! I immediately fell. And then run around in the snow in a suit that is big and warm enough to be ok at minus forty. Finally, I think Barrel and Beard originally planned to get rid of me. I'm lying in the snow, my dogs run away into the distance. On the left, in theory, the base, where Vladimir can catch them. You just have to tell the dogs to go left! Yeah, now try to shout loudly with your throat: “Khhh!” In short, Vladimir caught up with them on another team, but he didn’t even scold me.
And once in the winter, Vladimir's puppies began to freeze. And he distributed them to his friends during the cold weather. I got Alpha. She ran around the apartment for twenty hours without stopping, gobbled up all the linoleum and grew up to be the leader of the team, in which I see my direct merit.
Anadyr is separated from the village, where the airport is located, by an estuary. In summer, it can be crossed by ferry, which is accompanied by belugas. One day in August, my companion and I went to the other side of the estuary for a romantic date. They walked along the hills and abandoned villages, dozed in the fragrant tundra and did not keep track of time. And it turned out that we missed the ferry. The August night in Chukotka is still cold, but my companion was an experienced traveler, so we decided to spend the night on the shore. We had a few sausages and half a loaf with us. We threw branches on a pallet, which we found right there, - it turned out to be a bed. On one side we had an estuary, on the other three we kindled fires. I would not recommend repeating this scheme on a date, because it was inhumanly cold. In the morning we fried our sausages and bread and went to the ferry. On the shore we met a very fat man in shorts. He lay on a blanket, sunbathing. He was wearing an LDPR cap, next to it was an LDPR flag. He presented us with Liberal Democratic Party badges and said that he was sure that we would have beautiful children. Given his party affiliation, I had no doubt that this was a vile lie.
Chukotka: a land where summer is not a time for sunbathing and fun picnics, but a period when the sun does not set below the horizon at all. Where among the endless tundra for many kilometers you will not see a single tree, where mosquitoes are so huge that they can only be killed with a fist. Where at times the inhabitants become cut off from the rest of the territory of Russia, relying only on rare flights breaking through the bad weather.But there is gold in Chukotka, a lot of gold. And people have learned to extract it here. All year round, despite the polar nights, bitter cold, permafrost, ferocious bears, midges and the incredible complexity of industrial logistics. They landed in the tundra, as if on another planet, founded a colony, built a residential station, roads through swamps and hills to the nearest port, extended electricity and live here all year round. They live, work, extract... Moreover, they live a full life, in comfortable conditions, which are generally difficult to imagine in the tundra. Welcome to the rotational camp of gold miners at the Maiskoye deposit in the north of Chukotka.
The Mayskoye gold deposit is located 187 kilometers from the northernmost city of Russia - Pevek. You can get here in one and only way - along a dirt year-round road through the tundra. The main type of transport that goes to the gold miners' village is shift work. On shifts, new shifts of workers come here and those who have completed the shift and fly home to different regions of Russia leave for a flight. Shift workers bring mail and food from Pevek. Even artists for a concert and journalists from distant Moscow are delivered to the village on them.
When you first find yourself in this shift camp, you can't believe your eyes. In five hours on a bumpy road, the imagination manages to draw many pictures of the future refuge: fragile cars with a floor worn out by boots, beds with a squeezed net, untidy linen and a dining room with aluminum utensils, a “branded” smell and tasteless porridge for dinner. Well, what else to expect from housing in the Arctic tundra? And now our "Ural", rumbling, drives up to a neat and rather large residential complex. Hmm, where are the teplovki? It doesn't look like what you imagined...
Indeed, a modern shift camp is no longer the wretched housing in which shift workers huddled 20 years ago. This is a completely different reality, more reminiscent of films about the colonization of new planets: comfortable residential blocks erected on stilts above the aggressive surface of the earth. The premises are united by galleries and passages into a single whole, so that one can get from one to another without going outside. Construction on piles above ground and these galleries are very relevant in winter time, when the temperature drops below 50°C, a blizzard rages outside, and the ground freezes completely. Thanks to the air cushion below and the fact that the doors for the entry and exit of hundreds of workers almost do not open, you can save a huge amount of heat and provide a comfortable microclimate throughout the residential complex.
Polymetal has been developing the Mayskoye field since 2011, and the first thing they started with was a shift camp. Without a full-fledged residential town, where workers do not have to worry about living conditions, efficient work in such a harsh place would simply be impossible. It's no joke, up to 1000 people live here today! And all of them are provided with warm comfortable housing, good nutrition and all necessary household services.
Most of the residential complex is given over to the dormitories of workers and engineering and technical specialists. Here, under a single roof, the offices of both the enterprise and various support services are located; a food block with a canteen, a shop, showers and toilets, locker rooms, laundries, a sewing workshop, two saunas, two gyms, a relaxation room with billiards, a reading room with computers and the Internet, a medical center and hospital boxes.
Most of the rooms are designed to accommodate several people. The areas, of course, are small, but shift schedules are drawn up in such a way as to divide the residents as much as possible. Therefore, many neighbors rarely see each other, since while one is resting, the second is on shift at this time, and vice versa. In the dormitories for engineering and technical workers, the toilet and shower are located either directly in the room or in a block of two rooms. In workers' dormitories, toilets and showers are shared and located on the floor.
Men's and women's dormitories are separated, in addition to them there are rooms in which families live. Yes, yes, it happens on shifts. But children's rooms, like children, are not here: they stay at home on the mainland.
The workers are fed by a contractor company that works at most of the Polymetal facilities scattered across the vast territory of Russia - in the Urals, and in the Khabarovsk Territory, and in Kolyma, and here, in Chukotka.
It must be said that workers from Mayskoye definitely do not come home thinner and haggard. The food here is worthy: hearty, tasty, plentiful, and the range of dishes itself is amazing: every day, employees have a choice of more than a dozen dishes, and on some days there are barbecues and a chic sweet table!
True, employees are not allowed to get fat here either: the shift camp has two gyms, in summer and even in winter various internal competitions and tournaments in football, volleyball and other sports are held. So do as much as your heart desires: at least on a treadmill, at least on simulators.
There are other opportunities for recreation and entertainment: several special lounges in separate rooms from the hostel: you can have fun and make some noise if you want. Indeed, in the hostel the rules are strict: maximum silence for maximum relaxation of people.
Gold mining is not a job about cleanliness: workers return from a mine or factory in rather dirty overalls. Therefore, the residential village is equipped with a powerful laundry complex, where hundreds of sets of overalls and bed linen from the hostel are brought to a clean condition every day.
In addition to the common laundry complex, the dormitories have local utility rooms with washing machines and dryers where people can wash their personal belongings and clothes.
Sewing workshop, where you can hand over some personal items, clothes for repair.
Once a week, everyone living at the Mayskoye field can go to the sauna. There are two of them here, separately for engineering and technical personnel, separately (larger) for workers. Due to the large number of people living in the camp, sauna visits are organized according to the schedule for each block. This is done so as not to create queues and confusion.
And of course, the shift camp has its own first-aid post with modern diagnostic equipment, an isolation ward and qualified personnel. Still, it is far from here not only to the mainland, but also to the Malaya - Pevek. So when one of the workers has medical problems, he will be provided with full assistance here.
I spent three days in a shift camp at the Mayskoye field. Already returning to Pevek on a shift, I remembered those pictures that my imagination had drawn to me on the way here a few days ago. Yes, the reality is completely different. Moreover, contrary to the law of the genre, it is not worse, but much better. Good modern housing, food and life. Not only better than those that gold miners had 20 or 30 years ago in these harsh places, but also those in which many Russians live today.
The northernmost region of the Far East is the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. On its territory there are several indigenous peoples who came there millennia ago. Most of all in Chukotka there are Chukchi themselves - about 15 thousand. For a long time they roamed all over the peninsula, herded deer, hunted whales and lived in yarangas.
Now many reindeer herders and hunters have turned into housing and communal services workers, and yarangas and kayaks have been replaced with ordinary houses with heating.
Cucumbers for 600 rubles per kilogram and a dozen eggs for 200 are modern consumer realities in remote areas of Chukotka. Fur production is closed, as it did not fit into capitalism, and the extraction of venison, although it is still going on, is subsidized by the state - reindeer meat cannot compete even with expensive beef, which is brought from the "mainland". A similar story is with the repair of housing stock: it is unprofitable for construction companies to take on repair contracts, since the lion's share of the estimate is the cost of transporting materials and workers off-road. Young people leaving the villages, and serious problems with health care - the Soviet system collapsed, and the new one was not really created.
The ancestors of the Chukchi appeared in the tundra before our era. Presumably, they came from the territory of Kamchatka and the current Magadan region, then moved through the Chukotka Peninsula towards the Bering Strait and stopped there.
Faced with the Eskimos, the Chukchi adopted their sea animal hunting, subsequently driving them out of the Chukchi Peninsula. At the turn of the millennium, the Chukchi learned reindeer husbandry from the nomads of the Tungus group - Evens and Yukaghirs.
“Now it is not easier to get into the camps of the reindeer herders of Chukotka than in the time of Tan Bogoraz (a famous Russian ethnographer who described the life of the Chukchi at the beginning of the 20th century).
You can fly to Anadyr, and then to the national villages by plane. But then from the village it is very difficult to get to a specific reindeer herding team at the right time,” explains Puya. Reindeer herders' camps are constantly moving, and over long distances. There are no roads to get to their places of parking: they have to move on caterpillar all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles, sometimes on reindeer and dog teams. In addition, reindeer herders strictly observe the dates of migrations, the time of their rituals and holidays.
Vladimir Puya
Hereditary reindeer herder Puya insists that reindeer herding is a “calling card” of the region and the indigenous people. But now the Chukchi basically do not live the way they used to: crafts and traditions are fading into the background, and they are being replaced by the typical life of remote regions of Russia.“Our culture suffered a lot in the 1970s when the authorities felt it was expensive to run high schools with full staff in every village,” says Puya. – Boarding schools were built in regional centers. They were classified not as urban institutions, but as rural ones - in rural schools, salaries are twice as high. I myself studied at such a school, the quality of education was very high. But the children were torn away from life in the tundra and the seaside: we returned home only for the summer holidays. And so they lost their complex, cultural development. There was no national education in boarding schools, even the Chukchi language was not always taught. Apparently, the authorities decided that the Chukchi are Soviet people, and we don’t need to know our culture.”
The life of reindeer herders
The geography of the Chukchi at first depended on the movement of wild deer. People wintered in the south of Chukotka, and in the summer they left the heat and midges to the north, to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The people of reindeer herders lived in a tribal system. They settled on lakes and rivers. The Chukchi lived in yarangas. The winter yaranga, which was sewn from reindeer skins, was stretched over a wooden frame. Snow from under it was cleaned to the ground. The floor was covered with branches, on which skins were laid in two layers. An iron stove with a chimney was installed in the corner. They slept in yarangas in animal skins.
But the Soviet government, which came to Chukotka in the 30s of the last century, was dissatisfied with the "uncontrolled" movement of people. Indigenous people were told where to build a new - semi-stationary - dwelling. This was done for the convenience of transporting goods by sea. The same was done with the camps. At the same time, new jobs arose for the indigenous people, and hospitals, schools, and houses of culture appeared in the settlements. The Chukchi were taught writing. And the reindeer herders themselves lived almost better than all other Chukchi - until the 80s of the XX century.
Now residents of Konergino send letters by post, buy in two stores (Nord and Katyusha), call “to the mainland” from the only landline phone in the entire village, sometimes go to the local culture club, and use the outpatient clinic. However, the residential buildings of the village are in disrepair and are not subject to major repairs. “Firstly, we are not given much money, and secondly, due to the complex transport scheme, it is difficult to deliver materials to the village,” Alexander Mylnikov, the head of the settlement, said several years ago. According to him, if earlier the housing stock in Konergino was repaired by public utilities, now they have neither building materials nor labor. “It is expensive to deliver building materials to the village, the contractor spends about half of the allocated funds on transportation costs. The builders refuse, it is unprofitable for them to work with us,” he complained.
About 330 people live in Konergino. Of these, about 70 children: most go to school. Fifty local residents work in the housing and communal services, and 20 educators, teachers, nannies and cleaners work at the school, along with the kindergarten. Young people do not stay in Konergino: school graduates go to study and work in other places. The depressive state of the village is illustrated by the situation with the traditional crafts that the Konergins were famous for.
“We no longer have sea hunting. According to capitalist rules, it is not profitable,” says Puya. - The fur farms closed, and the fur trade was quickly forgotten. In the 1990s, fur production in Konergino collapsed.” Only reindeer breeding remained: in Soviet times and until the mid-2000s, while Roman Abramovich remained as governor of the Chukotka Autonomous District, it was successful here.
There are 51 reindeer herders in Konergino, 34 of them in teams in the tundra. According to Puyi, the incomes of reindeer herders are extremely low. “This is a loss-making industry, there is not enough money for salaries. The state covers the lack of funds so that the salary is higher than the subsistence minimum, which is 13,000 in our country. The reindeer farm, in which the workers are, pays them about 12.5 thousand. The state pays up to 20,000 extra so that the reindeer herders do not starve to death,” Puya complains.
When asked why it is impossible to pay more, Puya replies that the cost of venison production in different farms varies from 500 to 700 rubles per kilogram. And wholesale prices for beef and pork, which are imported "from the mainland", start at 200 rubles. The Chukchi cannot sell meat for 800-900 rubles and are forced to set the price at the level of 300 rubles - at a loss. “There is no point in the capitalist development of this industry,” says Puya. “But this is the last thing left in the national villages.”
Eugene Kaipanau, 36-year-old Chukchi, was born in Lorino in the family of the most respected whaler. "Lorino" (in Chukchi - "Lauren") is translated from Chukchi as "found encampment". The settlement stands on the shore of the Mechigmen Bay of the Bering Sea. A few hundred kilometers away are the American islands of Krusenstern and St. Lawrence; Alaska is also very close. But planes fly to Anadyr once every two weeks - and then only if the weather is good. Lorino is covered from the north by hills, so there are more calm days here than in neighboring villages. True, despite the relatively good weather conditions, in the 90s, almost all Russian residents left Lorino, and since then only the Chukchi live there - about 1,500 people.
The houses in Lorino are rickety wooden structures with peeling walls and faded paint. In the center of the village there are several cottages built by Turkish workers, thermally insulated buildings with cold water, which is considered a privilege in Lorino (if cold water is run through ordinary pipes, it will freeze in winter). There is hot water throughout the settlement, because the local boiler house is open all year round. But there are no hospitals and clinics here - for several years now people have been sent for medical care by air ambulance or on all-terrain vehicles.
Lorino is known for its sea animal hunting. It is not for nothing that in 2008 the documentary film "Whaler" was filmed here, which received the TEFI prize. Hunting for a sea animal is still an important occupation for local residents. Whalers not only feed their families or earn money by donating meat to the local community of hunters, they also honor the traditions of their ancestors.
From childhood, Kaipanau knew how to slaughter walruses, catch fish and whales, and walk in the tundra. But after school, he went to Anadyr to study first as an artist, and then as a choreographer. Until 2005, while living in Lorino, he often went on tour to Anadyr or Moscow to perform with national ensembles. Due to constant traveling, climate change and flights, Kaipanau decided to finally move to Moscow. There he married, his daughters are nine months old. “I strive to instill my creativity and culture in my wife,” says Evgeny. “Although a lot of things seemed wild to her before, especially when she found out in what conditions my people live. I instill traditions and customs in my daughter, for example, I show national clothes. I want her to know that she is a hereditary Chukchi.”
Evgeny now rarely appears in Chukotka: he tours and represents the culture of the Chukchi around the world together with his ensemble "Nomad". In the eponymous ethnic park "Nomad" near Moscow, where Kaipanau works, he conducts thematic excursions and shows documentaries about Chukotka, including those by Vladimir Puyi.
But life far from his homeland does not prevent him from knowing about many things happening in Lorino: his mother stayed there, she works in the city administration. So, he is sure that young people are drawn to those traditions that are lost in other regions of the country. “Culture, language, hunting skill. Young people in Chukotka, including young people from our village, are learning to hunt whales. We have people living this all the time,” says Kaipanau.
In the summer season, the Chukchi hunted whales and walruses, in the winter - seals. They hunted with harpoons, knives and spears. Whales and walruses were caught all together, and seals - one by one. The Chukchi fished with nets of whale and deer tendons or leather belts, nets and bits. In winter - in the hole, in summer - from the shore or from kayaks. In addition, until the beginning of the 19th century, with the help of a bow, spears and traps, they hunted bears and wolves, sheep and elks, wolverines, foxes and arctic foxes. Waterfowl were killed with a throwing weapon (bola) and darts with a throwing board. From the second half of the 19th century, guns began to be used, and then firearms for whaling.
Products that are imported from the mainland cost a lot of money in the village. “They bring “golden” eggs for 200 rubles. I generally keep quiet about grapes,” adds Kaipanau. Prices reflect the sad socio-economic situation in Lorino. There are few places in the settlement where you can show professionalism and university skills. “But the situation of the people is, in principle, normal,” the interlocutor immediately clarifies. “After the arrival of Abramovich (from 2001 to 2008), things got much better: more jobs appeared, houses were rebuilt, medical and obstetric stations were established.” Kaipanau recalls how whalers he knew “came, took motor boats from the governor for free for fishing and left.” “Now they live and enjoy,” he says. The federal authorities, he said, also help the Chukchi, but not very actively.
Kaipanau has a dream. He wants to create educational ethnic centers in Chukotka, where indigenous peoples could re-learn their culture: build kayaks and yarangas, embroider, sing, and dance.
“In the ethnopark, many visitors consider the Chukchi an uneducated and backward people; they think they don't wash and say "however" all the time. They even sometimes tell me that I am not a real Chukchi. But we are real people.”
Every morning, Natalia, a 45-year-old resident of the village of Sireniki (who asked not to be named), wakes up at 8 am to go to work at a local school. She is a watchman and a technical worker.
Sireniki, where Natalya has been living for 28 years, is located in the Providensky urban district of Chukotka, on the coast of the Bering Sea. The first Eskimo settlement appeared here about three thousand years ago, and the remains of the dwellings of ancient people are still found in the vicinity of the village. In the 60s of the last century, the Chukchi joined the indigenous people. Therefore, the village has two names: from the Ekimos it is translated as "Valley of the Sun", and from the Chukchi - "Rocky Area".
Sireniki are surrounded by hills, and it is difficult to get here, especially in winter - only by snowmobile or helicopter. From spring to autumn, ships come here. From above, the village looks like a box of colorful candies: green, blue and red cottages, administration building, post office, kindergarten and dispensary. There used to be a lot of dilapidated wooden houses in Sireniki, but a lot has changed, says Natalya, with the arrival of Abramovich. “My husband and I used to live in a house with stove heating, we had to wash the dishes outside. Then Valera fell ill with tuberculosis, and his attending physician helped us to get a new cottage due to illness. Now we have a renovation.”
Clothes and food
Chukchi men wore kukhlyankas made of double reindeer skin and the same trousers. They pulled a bag made of kamus with sealskin soles over siskins - stockings made of dog skins. A double fawn hat was bordered in front with long-haired wolverine fur, which did not freeze from human breath in any frost, and fur mittens were worn on rawhide straps that were drawn into the sleeves. The shepherd was as if in a spacesuit. Clothing on women fit the body, below the knees it was tied, forming something like pants. They put it on over the head. Over the top, women wore a wide fur shirt with a hood, which they wore on special occasions like holidays or migrations.
The shepherd always had to protect the livestock of deer, so the livestock breeders and families ate in the summer as vegetarians, and if they ate the deer, then completely, right down to the horns and hooves. They preferred boiled meat, but they often ate it raw: the shepherds in the herd simply did not have time to cook. The settled Chukchi ate the meat of walruses, which were previously killed in huge quantities.
How do people live in Sireniki?
According to Natalia, it's normal. There are currently about 30 unemployed people in the village. In summer they gather mushrooms and berries, and in winter they catch fish, which they sell or exchange for other products. Natalia's husband receives a pension of 15,700 rubles, while the cost of living here is 15,000. “I myself work without part-time jobs, this month I will receive about 30,000. We, no doubt, live averagely, but somehow I don’t feel that wages are rising,” - the woman complains, recalling the cucumbers brought to Sireniki at 600 rubles per kilogram.
Dome
Natalya's sister works on a rotational basis at the Dome. This gold deposit, one of the largest in the Far East, is located 450 km from Anadyr. Since 2011, 100% of Kupol's shares have been owned by the Canadian company Kinross Gold (ours is not up to such trifles).“My sister used to work there as a maid, and now she gives out masks to miners who go down into the mines. They have a gym and a billiard room there! They pay in rubles (the average salary at Kupol is 50,000 rubles - DV), they transfer it to a bank card, ”says Natalya.
The woman knows a little about production, salaries and investments in the region, but often repeats: "The 'Dome' helps us." The fact is that the Canadian company that owns the deposit created the Social Development Fund back in 2009, which allocates money for socially significant projects. At least a third of the budget goes to support the indigenous peoples of the Autonomous Okrug. For example, Kupol helped publish a dictionary of the Chukchi language, opened courses in indigenous languages, and built a school for 65 children and a kindergarten for 32 in Sireniki.
“My Valera also received a grant,” says Natalya. - Two years ago, Kupol allocated 1.5 million rubles to him for a huge 20-ton freezer. After all, the whalers will get the beast, there is a lot of meat - it will go bad. And now this camera saves. With the rest of the money, my husband and his colleagues bought tools for building kayaks.”
Natalya, a Chukchi and a hereditary reindeer herder, believes that the national culture is now being revived. He says that every Tuesday and Friday at the local village club rehearsals of the Northern Lights ensemble are held; courses of Chukchi and other languages are being opened (albeit in the district center - Anadyr); competitions are held like the Governor's Cup or a regatta in the Barents Sea. “And this year our ensemble is invited to a grand event - an international festival! Five people will fly to the dance program. It will all be in Alaska, she will pay for the flight and accommodation, ”the woman says. She admits that the Russian state also supports the national culture, but she mentions the "Dome" much more often. Natalya does not know of a domestic fund that would finance the peoples of Chukotka.
Another key issue is healthcare. In Chukotka, as in other northern regions, says Nina Veysalova, a representative of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East (AMNSS and Far East of the Russian Federation), respiratory diseases are very common. But, according to available information, TB dispensaries are closing in national settlements. Lots of cancer patients. The previously existing health care system ensured the identification, observation and treatment of sick people from among small peoples, which was enshrined in law. Unfortunately, today this scheme does not work. The authorities do not answer the question about the closure of TB dispensaries, but only report that hospitals, outpatient clinics and feldsher-obstetric stations have been preserved in every district and locality of Chukotka.
There is a stereotype in Russian society: the Chukchi people drank themselves after the "white man" came to the territory of Chukotka - that is, from the beginning of the last century. The Chukchi have never drunk alcohol, their body does not produce an enzyme that breaks down alcohol - and because of this, the effect of alcohol on their health is more detrimental than that of other peoples. But according to Yevgeny Kaipanau, the level of the problem is greatly overestimated. “With alcohol [among the Chukchi], everything is the same as everywhere else. But they drink less than anywhere else,” he says. At the same time, says Kaipanau, the Chukchi really did not have an enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the past. “Now, although the enzyme has been developed, the people still don’t drink like the legends say,” sums up the Chukchi.
The opinion of Kaipanau is supported by Irina Samorodskaya, Doctor of Medical Sciences of the State Scientific Research Center for Criticism, one of the authors of the report “Mortality and the proportion of deaths in the economically active age from causes related to alcohol (drugs), myocardial infarction and coronary artery disease from all deaths aged 15-72 years” for 2013. According to Rosstat, the document says, the highest death rate from alcohol-related causes is indeed in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - 268 people per 100,000. But these data, emphasizes Samorodskaya, refer to the entire population of the district. “Yes, the indigenous people of those territories are the Chukchi, but not only they live there,” she explains. In addition, according to Samorodskaya, Chukotka is higher in all indicators of mortality than other regions - and this is not only alcohol mortality, but also other external causes. “It’s impossible to say that it was the Chukchi who died from alcohol right now, this is how the system works. First, if people don't want their deceased relative's death certificate to show an alcohol-related cause of death, it won't be shown. Second, the vast majority of deaths occur at home. And there, death certificates are often filled out by a district doctor or even a paramedic, which is why other reasons may be indicated in the documents - it’s easier to write that way ”
Finally, another serious problem in the region, according to Veysalova, is the relationship between industrial companies and the indigenous local population. “People come as conquerors, disturbing the peace and tranquility of the locals. I think that there should be a regulation on the interaction of companies and nations,” she says.
Language and religion
The Chukchi living in the tundra called themselves "chavchu" (reindeer). Those who lived on the shore - "ankalyn" (pomor). There is a common self-name of the people - "luoravetlan" (a real person), but it did not take root. About 11,000 people spoke Chukchi 50 years ago. Now their number is decreasing every year. The reason is simple: in Soviet times, writing and schools appeared, but at the same time, a policy of destroying everything national was pursued. Separation from their parents and life in boarding schools forced Chukchi children to know their native language less and less.
The Chukchi have long believed that the world is divided into upper, middle and lower. At the same time, the upper world (“cloudy land”) is inhabited by the “upper people” (in Chukchi - gyrgorramkyn), or the “people of the dawn” (tnargy-ramkyn), and the supreme deity among the Chukchi does not play a serious role. The Chukchi believed that their soul was immortal, believed in reincarnation, and shamanism was widespread among them. Both men and women could be shamans, but among the Chukchi shamans of the “transformed sex” were considered especially strong - men who acted as housewives, and women who adopted the clothes, activities and habits of men.
All conclusions will be drawn by time and the Chukchi themselves.
Today we will talk about Chukotka, one of the most expensive and coldest regions of Russia. Let's dispel the myths that only Chukchi live in Chukotka, that they eat red caviar here with spoons and support the version that there are few trees, eternal bad weather with winter for more than six months.
The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (Chukotka) is a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, located in the Far Eastern Federal District.
It borders on Yakutia, the Magadan Region and the Kamchatka Territory.
In the east it has a maritime border with the United States.
The entire territory of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug belongs to the regions of the Far North.
The administrative center is the city of Anadyr.
In the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, according to data for 2017, employees earn more than 100 thousand rubles a month. Chukotka ranks second in the ranking of salaries in the regions of Russia.”
About everything in order.
Alaska, bordering Russia through Chukotka, was also previously a territory of Russia, but it has not been for 150 years now, the Chukchi Sea connects or, more precisely, separates Russian Chukotka and now American Alaska. Russian Chukchi envy the Americans, and the Americans are somewhat jealous of the Russians. Despite the proximity of the regions and the similarity of natural conditions, outwardly they are completely different.
In Chukotka, or more correctly, in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, almost 50 thousand people live on an area of 721.5 thousand square kilometers. Only 50 thousand people, that is, it is a suburban village even on the scale of a million city.
Naturally, everyone knows each other. According to the testimonies of those living there, half of the population are Russians, half of the Chukchi, according to official data - half of the Russians, a quarter of the Chukchi, 5% Ukrainians, 3% Eskimos, and a smaller percentage of Evens, Tatars, Belarusians. Of course, there are many mestizos.
But 50 thousand people live not even in one "village", but in several small towns.
15.5 thousand people live in Anadyr (the "capital" of Chukotka), it is the largest city of Chukotka, 5.3 thousand in Bilibino, 4.3 thousand in Pevek, 3.6 thousand in Coal Mines, almost 3 thousand in Evgekinot .
The basis of the economy of Chukotka is the mining industry, the extraction of gold, silver, and coal. Breeding of deer, preparation of medicinal raw materials - deer antlers. Hunting and fishing are also developed in Chukotka.
Climate in Chukotka
“The average temperature in January is from -15 °C to -39 °C, in July - from +5 °C to +10 °C. The absolute minimum was registered - -61 °С, the absolute maximum - +34 °С. Precipitation 200-500 mm per year. Winter 10 months a year.
Due to the fact that the winter in Chukotka is severe (the climate is described above) and long (up to 10 months a year), as well as the difficulty of accessing the region (low transport availability, low population density, cost-effectiveness of road construction with the prospect of construction) - Chukotka in fact, there is the edge of the earth, which is difficult to reach, isolated, autonomous.
Here is a peculiar culture, mentality, customs, often all this is mixed with the Russian Old Believers and the ethnic shamanism of the Chukchi. Winter, frequent frosts, polar nights, snow storms also form certain traits of national characters in the form of restraint, patience, hard work, endurance, but at the same time there are negative aspects - emotional coldness, anger, resentment, depression from rare contact with the sun and cold , pessimism, someone, on the contrary, characterizes the northerners as open, kind and naive.
Officially, there are no drug addicts here! But enough alcoholics and suicides.
“The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug recorded the highest rates of completed suicides in the Russian Federation, the vast majority of which were victims of the indigenous population, which is directly related both to widespread alcoholism among local residents and to the folk custom of “voluntary death”, recorded at the end of XIX century by the ethnographer V. G. Bogoraz.
In all ethnic villages of the region, there are serious restrictions on the sale of alcohol, in some it is completely prohibited. At the same time, by 2016, the absence of drug addicts was officially registered in Chukotka.
Average salary in Chukotka
The average salary in Chukotka is 71,000 rubles. In 2018, according to forecasts, the average salary in Chukotka will be about 100 thousand rubles. But in 2012, in Chukotka, people received 20 thousand rubles each, and prices were slightly less than today. And now there are low salaries.
List of salaries for 2017:
“Thus, the average salary of doctors amounted to 151.5 thousand (an increase of 30% compared to last year), nurses - 77.4 thousand (by 12%), junior medical staff - 63.4 thousand (by 41 %), teachers of preschool institutions - 71.5 thousand (by 9%), teachers of general educational institutions - 89.6 thousand (by 4%), teachers of additional education - 86 thousand (by 15%), teachers and masters of industrial training – 91.1 thousand (by 2%), social workers – 68.1 thousand (by 31%), cultural workers – 73.9 (by 33%)”.
About roads in Chukotka
We have already said about bad roads (which are not only in Chukotka), or rather about the absence of them. This is one of the reasons for the “high cost” of products, the high cost of goods and housing (after all, building materials are needed for construction, which are difficult to find in conditions of permafrost and inaccessibility of the region). Medical assistance sometimes literally arrives, by helicopter, plane, and so the injured, feeling unwell patient is taken to the hospital.
About prices in Chukotka
This is perhaps the most painful topic for northerners. However, many are already accustomed to and even adapt: for example, immediately after the delivery of goods to stores by navigation, prices are 20-30% lower, at this time it is best to stock up, and speculation is developed in regions remote from the center, it is generally better not to live there, according to residents Anadyr and Bilibino, more relatives bring food (even by plane, at least 23 kg each). On the "mainland" prices are ridiculous at all ... Remember about Chukotka when you complain about the crisis and expensive products. Even a teacher's salary of 60-80 thousand will not justify bananas for 600 rubles per kg. Add to the evil prices another winter in 10 months.
Given the level of wages, food prices are bearable, you might say. However, the salary of a teacher is only two to three times higher than in the country, but bananas are 5 times more expensive. So it's not all that simple.
Perishable products are brought by helicopter, during the navigation period (usually in summer-autumn, when the seas are not frozen) ships with products arrive, in winter it is possible to deliver products over ice. In connection with such difficulties, respectively, the cost is rather big, but the inhabitants of Chukotka do not plan to migrate en masse, which means they see their pluses in such a life.
But the prices are, of course, a beast! How can you justify them. Fruit at least 500 rubles per kg. It's okay, here are wilted zucchini for 500 rubles per kg, tomatoes for 660, cucumbers for 500, persimmon - 900 rubles - this makes the picture more colorful. For 2 kg of fruits and vegetables, a thousand rubles ... One trip to the store - about 5 thousand rubles ....
But potatoes, onions, beets are in the range of 70-100 rubles per kg, which is quite bearable. This is comparable to other regions. Perhaps the vegetables are grown locally.
What is relatively inexpensive here? Caviar is red, but this is also relative, for example, in 2016 it cost 2-2.5 thousand rubles per kg, but in the regions caviar costs from 5-6 thousand per kg, at least in Siberia. Despite the fact that Chukotka is a fish land - dried smelt for 1 kg - 1.7 thousand rubles. These are space prices for smelt.
According to the stories of locals, in Anadyr everything is not so scary yet (I took the prices above just from the shops of the Chukotka capital), there are fewer delays and they don’t inflate to lawlessness, but in smaller cities they lay out a delay and inflate prices. Such is she harsh Chukotka.
But despite the prices - according to the testimony of those living in the Northern region - there is a sea of \u200b\u200bfish and caviar, the tundra is dotted with cloudberries, haddock, blueberries and porcini mushrooms. So those who left their entire salary in a store where bananas for 600 rubles will not remain hungry: there are cloudberries, blueberries in the tundra, fish in the river.
About expensive housing in Chukotka
According to the state statistics website, the most expensive housing in Russia is in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the price for 1 square meter is 120 thousand rubles. For comparison, in Moscow, according to the same site - about 60 thousand rubles. It is not clear to me where such a figure comes from, because it is obvious that in Moscow the cost of a square meter, even in a murdered apartment, is far from 60 thousand per square meter. Data is inconsistent
According to another resource, “the normative average cost of one square meter of the total living area for Chukotka for the III quarter of 2017, in accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Construction of Russia, is set at 34,119 rubles.” But: "The actual estimated cost of construction on the territory of the Chukotka District reaches 142 thousand rubles per square meter of housing."
So it's all confusing...
In search engines, if you look for advertisements for the sale of housing in Chukotka, you can also notice 80 square meters for 4 million (you can even for 2), which is quite consistent with the figures of 34 thousand per square meter.
A studio of 30-40 square meters can be found up to a million. And 120 thousand here do not seem to be near.
In terms of the pace of construction in Chukotka: let's take one of the last years - only (!!!) 300 square meters were built per year, in total!
If the figure of 120 thousand rubles per square meter is not taken from the ceiling, then it is quite possible to justify this price: only 300 meters are built per year, even taking into account the fact that the population is decreasing slowly, people, according to the general greedy trend, want to live better and more spacious .
In the cities of Anadyr and Bilibino (population 15.5 and 5.5 thousand people), many 3-5-7-storey houses stand on piles because of the permafrost. Houses are full of brightness. Photos at the beginning of the article and below. Blue-red-yellow-green neat cozy houses, from afar, close to untidy driveways with dusty announcements on the doors, but this is all nonsense, like abandoned rusty barges near ports and on the seashores. This is a kind of gloss of Chukotka.
But what is really not enough, according to the photo, is the vegetation in the cities. Pretty, like a fairy tale, pretty little multi-colored houses with neat streets and roads against the backdrop of dry flower beds, a pale green lawn, a couple of blades of grass under the window.
Seagulls in Chukotka
Seagulls are a separate topic, seagulls are… rats. Those who decide to move to the northern region are annoyed by the roar of seagulls, and not by the sound of builders' hammers. Seagulls are everywhere: in ports, near shops, in trash cans, they are also compared to rats. 
But this is all philosophy. Real life, or rather the struggle for life, in comparison with which both evil prices and seagulls seem like flowers - these are severe blizzards and frosts in winter, which lasts more than six months.
There are special handles in the entrances, there are no intercoms. Do you know why? Because when there is a blizzard on a fierce winter evening, you can only find the entrance to the house by touch or walk at least to the nearest one and wait out the bad weather there.
About the weather in Chukotka
And about the bad weather, the inhabitants of Chukotka themselves say this: “Here the weather is bad for one month, very bad for two months and terrible for nine months.” But blizzards and snowstorms at minus 50 are the peak of terrible weather.
In Anadyr, according to tourists (although tourists are not the right word, because there is no tourism as such in Chukotka), there is everything: even expensive products, but in abundance in shops, supermarkets, there are entertainment centers, cafes, etc.
Another "attraction" of Chukotka: the polar night. They say that it is difficult to fall asleep even if you really want to ... sometimes you have to cover yourself with a blanket with your head. Photo of the polar night below. 
From 1990 to 2014, the population of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug decreased by more than three times - from 164 thousand people to 51 thousand. The correspondent of "Russian Planet" went to Chukotka and found out how this land is perceived by its temporary guests and who considers it their home.
northern polis
“Ilya Valentinovich, where can I go to return the waste baskets to the playground?” The acting mayor of Anadyr, Ilya Davidenko, visits the city forum every day and answers questions from residents. According to the data of the portal, the morning begins with this chapter. The answers date from 9:15 to 9:30 - this is right after the planning meetings at the City Hall. Davidenko has two apartments in Moscow and the Moscow suburbs, but he lives with his family in Anadyr. He is 40 years old, and he came to the post of acting mayor in April of this year - from the post of first deputy governor of Chukotka. In the fall, Davidenko goes to the polls.
He says he wants to build a new management style. Therefore, he communicates in social networks, goes to work on foot and invites those who have questions and suggestions to his appointment. And he is also going to create a public council of civil activists and give them the opportunity to manage Anadyr with him.
There are no problems to find such people. In Anadyr, I personally know 70% of the inhabitants (the population of the region's capital is 14 thousand people. - RP). And this council will communicate directly with the population. For example, today we are discussing problems in healthcare. We call the head doctor of the hospital and ask him to answer the questions of the city residents.
- Will it work permanently?
Of course. You just need to talk to people. At one time I was the head of the district, I carried out several projects, and then the residents told me: “Ilya, why did you do this? You're a good guy, but we don't need it." And then I realized: we are used to living in the role of big bosses and thinking that everything we do for the people is happiness. It doesn't happen.
Ilya Davidenko. Photo provided by the press service of the city administration
Davidenko is dealing with a population that knows that sooner or later they will leave the city. Most of the residents move to the center of the country with the onset of pensions, taking advantage of the fact that the allowances are high, and the retirement age comes 5 years earlier than in the main territory of Russia. Will these people do something for Anadyr? The head of the city argues like this: if you live in a hostel, you can just wait that you will move out in a year, or you can paste wallpaper, because this year you do not want to live in a barn. He thinks it's better to "glue". Davidenko himself will also leave. He already knows the day: August 5, 2029, the day after his 55th birthday.
You see, the climate here is not for life. You can't live here for medical reasons.
Man overboard
For several weeks now, every morning, Alexander Osipov has been coming to the port of the village of Egvekinot and waiting for a ship. Osipov comes, but the ship does not. And Alexander wanders off to work, and the next morning he reappears in the port. 3 thousand people live in Egvekinot. There is a school, a library, several cafes, a gym, a port and an airport. Previously, tin and tungsten mines operated in the area, and it was a prosperous place. In the 90s, the industry collapsed, and now some of the houses in Egvekinot gape with empty windows. There are almost no expired products in stores. Ketchup is good until 2013, long-term milk spoiled six months ago and is now sold only for baking, there are no fresh fruits and vegetables.
Products in Egvekinot are brought by sea. And when navigation is closed - by all-terrain vehicles and airplanes, already in much smaller volumes. Now, in July, everyone is waiting for the first ship. But he cannot pass: he rubs in the ice at the entrance to the bay. It happens here. Alexander Osipov meets the ship at the port because he is the editor-in-chief of the regional newspaper Bay of the Cross and the only employee of the local TV news program. He shoots himself, he writes voice-over texts, he edits them himself. And he needs to inform everyone as soon as possible that the ship has arrived. But in general, Osipov is a geologist who, with the collapse of the mining industry, was left without a job. He wrote articles for newspapers several times, and after that he was hired as a journalist.
Why don't you leave?
In January! To the Krasnodar Territory! I'm buying an apartment there and u-e-zh-yu.
In the 90s, Osipov wrote about the misuse of money by officials, about the poverty of reindeer herders, about non-payment of salaries. He, as he says, was illegally deprived of his job, his printing equipment was taken away, he left for Moscow to temporarily sit out at the Union of Journalists so that he would not be persecuted on false charges. He now works for a newspaper funded by the district administration. And he doesn't quarrel with anyone else.
Would be happy to serve
A stone temple is being built in Egvekinot. At the foot of the hill, on the shore of the bay, with golden domes and a space for worshipers with an area of 100 square meters. It looks there like the Eiffel Tower in the village. In the meantime, it is being built, the parish is located in an ordinary residential apartment in Khrushchev. And it's empty here. Only we and the head of the parish, Hieromonk Evlogii (Rodyukov), are sitting. Father Eulogy is a monk. He served in the Khabarovsk Territory, then asked to join the monastery. Instead, he was sent to Chukotka for a period of two years - and has not been transferred anywhere for six years. According to him, no more than 15 people attend worship services here, and sometimes no one comes at all. And the clergyman sits alone in this apartment. Periodically goes to the fitness club and sauna. And even the new temple does not please him.
I have to live in a monastery, or at least in conditions close to it. And here there is no confessor, no opportunity to confess, no brother. I am alone in empty space. The priest in the parish is the priest. That is, father, father. This is the one who equips the parish like a family. A monk should not do this. Monks without monasteries - Shatalova deserts, hang around.
- Well, you live a secular life here: a gym, a bathhouse.
So it's out of desperation! This is an opportunity to stay sane! Here, either degradation from idleness, or regular exercise, which allows you to unload your brain and does not allow you to completely fall apart.
And what about your Orthodox mission here? Who will perform it?
To fulfill it, one must live with people. Not 2-3 years, but all my life. And these should be family priests, not monks. But who will decide on this? Maybe, of course, there will be those: “If not us, then who? Give your soul for your friends! - and they will come. But they will scatter from this isolation! Here, all the Chukchi exotic - for two weeks of impressions. And then no one needs such an exotic. It's a feat to live here.
Hieromonk Evlogii is 42 years old. He does not know how many more years he will spend in Egvekinot. And every year he has less and less chances to get into the monastery. And he, it seems, resigned himself to his fate to stay here: he was going to enter the correspondence department of the local technical school, to study as an accountant-economist.
About the hero Roman
Living in Chukotka is cold, expensive and inconvenient in terms of transport. Expensive - this is when in July a kilogram of bananas or tomatoes costs 450 rubles, zucchini - 470, eight rolls of toilet paper - 495 rubles. At the same time, the salaries of state employees are not much higher than in Moscow: the head of a department in the district government receives about 70 thousand, a teacher at 1.8 rates - 77-90 thousand. And it's inconvenient - this is when the flight from Anadyr to the village is postponed all week because of fog, and the ship gets up in the ice for several days.
At the same time, we did not see devastation either in the capital or in the regional centers. Next to the old empty houses are new ones, or restored ones - on special piles for permafrost conditions, schools have been built using northern Canadian technologies. The streets are clean. Playgrounds and football fields are everywhere in Anadyr. Drivers give way to pedestrians, including in the wrong place. Sellers catch up with customers who forgot to pick up the purchased goods from the counter. Here it is called the delayed “Abramovich effect”.
The last cargo ship leaves the port of Anadyr due to the closure of navigation. Photo: Konstantin Chalabov / RIA Novosti
When Roman Arkadyevich came here, he immediately took two main steps: he registered Sibneft here and created his off-budget funds. I know that about $ 2 billion passed through these funds during his reign, - says
and about. Mayor of Anadyr Ilya Davidenko.
Ex-governor Abramovich in Chukotka is an icon. Locals say that he saved the region: he demolished and rebuilt part of the settlements, reduced the bureaucracy and thus avoided budget “cuts”, attracted as many investors in the first year as had not come in the previous 10 years. I repaid the debt of the region in the amount of five annual budgets and paid back wage arrears. With extra-budgetary money, he took out poor rural children to
The Black Sea, where they were dressed in clean clothes and fed plenty. In some offices, we saw framed portraits of Abramovich. They say they are in the apartments.
In our village, in a cafe, a visitor once said a bad word about Roman Arkadyevich. So they beat him, broke a bottle on his head and pushed him out into the street,” says Ilya Davidenko.
Since 2013, Abramovich no longer has any official posts in Chukotka (in July 2013, he voluntarily resigned as a deputy and speaker of the parliament of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug due to the law prohibiting having property abroad). So far, the region is coping without him, but the main trend that he laid - Chukotka is a place of temporary residence for non-indigenous peoples - remains unchanged.
