In Murmansk, President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting on the development of closed administrative territorial units and towns in the Russian Arctic. He said that problems requiring solutions had accumulated in the Arctic.

The president listed various problems, including the rundown utility infrastructure (up to 70 percent in large cities). He noted that this problem was even more acute in remote towns and closed administrative territorial units.

“I would like to remind you that during a meeting on the Arctic held last year we decided to draft an action plan for the development of housing, energy and social infrastructure in closed administrative territorial units and towns in Russia’s Arctic where our military units are deployed. However, this is taking too long,” he said.

Officials have been slow to complete specific tasks at a time when the development of Arctic communities has military significance, the President pointed out.

“I will not go into detail here, but we have many defense and security interests in these areas. Therefore, local residents must live in good conditions, which is something we must focus our attention on,” he said.

Murmansk Region Governor Andrei Chibis, who also attended the meeting with the president, noted that about 283.5 billion rubles were needed to facilitate the comprehensive development of housing and the relevant infrastructure for the families of service personnel, and that this project would take 10 years to complete. 

“It is necessary to adopt a systemic decision on the comprehensive development of housing and infrastructure for our service personnel and their families. We need to build 134 apartment buildings and 37 social and utility infrastructure facilities to accommodate service members and their families. The statistics have been coordinated with military authorities in advance, and about 135 billion rubles are needed for these purposes,” the governor said.  

He drew attention to the need for developing strategic military towns serving as Arctic strongpoints. This calls for attracting and retaining skilled specialists and for investing in the municipal infrastructure.

As an example, Andrei Chibis mentioned the experience of the Far East, where large-scale changes are underway in accordance with approved master plans.

Vladimir Putin instructed the concerned officials to coordinate the plan for the development of Arctic towns where military units are deployed by September 1, to approve comprehensive long-term plans for the development of Arctic cities next year and to start implementing them in 2025.