A referendum on merging the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Area will not take place this year, sources said following a meeting in Naryan-Mar that involved Secretary of the United Russia Party's General Council Andrei Turchak and acting governors of the two regions, Alexander Tsibulsky and Yury Bezdudny.

According to Matvei Chuprov, leader of the working group on the merger representing the Nenets Autonomous Area, it was decided that the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Area will continue developing as a macro-region but without any political mergers.

"We need a development program for the Arctic that would specifically formalize the development of the Nenets Autonomous Area and the Arkhangelsk Region in a separate sub-clause," the head of the working group added.

Earlier, the heads of the two regions and representatives of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic had a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev and discussed economic integration and the socioeconomic development of the regions as part of a comprehensive development project for the Russian Arctic. Both regions will participate in drafting a joint development program.