Arctic boundaries to include Komi, Karelia and Krasnoyarsk Territory
© RIA Novosti. Evgeny Biyatov

Arctic boundaries to include Komi, Karelia and Krasnoyarsk Territory

The Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic proposed including a few subpolar districts of the republics of Komi and Karelia, as well as rural settlements in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the borders of the Russian Arctic zone.

The areas to be included in the Arctic zone are the Republic of Komi's subpolar territories — Usinsk, Inta and the Ust-Tsilemsky district. For several years, the regional authorities have been seeking to expand the Arctic zone, justifying it by the fact that the above municipalities are located along the Arctic Circle in the permafrost zone. In other countries, this is one of the most important factors in classifying Arctic territories. The ministry published a draft executive order on Arctic zone expansion back in September 2019.

According to the draft executive order, the boundaries of the Arctic zone will be expanded by including the municipalities of Usinsk and Inta urban districts, the Ust-Tsilemsky municipal district in the Republic of Komi, and the Kalevala national municipal district, the Segezha municipal district and the Kostomuksha urban district of the Republic of Karelia.

Also, a number of rural settlements in the Evenki municipal district in the northeastern part of the Krasnoyarsk Territory are to be included within the Arctic zone.