Allocations to small indigenous peoples in Russia will amount to 1.32 billion rubles by 2025. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Magomedsalam Magomedov said this at the Russia: Indigenous Peoples of the North forum, which is being held in Salekhard on March 23-25.

"A program has been approved for the implementation of the State Nationalities Policy. This program has a subprogram titled Small Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Federation, under which 1.32 billion rubles will be allocated to support the culture and traditions and to improve the quality of life for small indigenous peoples in Russia," TASS has reported, citing Magomedov.

The Kremlin official added that these funds will come from budgets of different levels. "Over 1 billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget in 2012-2016 as part of subsidies for the socioeconomic development of small indigenous peoples. This year, federal allocations for this purpose have been approved at nearly 130 million rubles. They will be used to build schools and social and other infrastructure, buy fish processing equipment and promote the traditional economies of the indigenous peoples of the North," Magomedov said.

According to TASS, President of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) Georgy Ledkov said that there are 42 small indigenous peoples in the Russian North, Siberia and the Far East. Taken together, they number over 250,000 people. More than half of them live in the Arctic regions.