In 2016, Russia spent about 70 million rubles on support for the small indigenous Arctic ethnic groups, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told members of the State Commission for Arctic Development December 13.

We are focusing on the sustained development of indigenous Arctic ethnic groups; we provide the regions with financial assistance for supporting the economic and social development of these ethnic groups, and this support has totaled almost 70 million rubles in 2016, Rogozin said, while listing the State Commission's main achievements.

We continue to enforce and upgrade legislation to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the indigenous Arctic ethnic groups, he added. For example, the Federal Agency for Nationalities Affairs is drafting a bill to amend the Law on Traditional Nature Management Territories of Small Indigenous Ethnic Groups in the Russian Arctic, Siberia and Far East.