Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has promised to improve conditions for the work of representatives of the Russian indigenous peoples in the Arctic Council, TASS reports.

"We are committed to creating more comfortable conditions for the work of representatives of the Russian indigenous peoples in the Arctic Council," Lavrov said at the ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council.

The Arctic Council is comprised of eight Arctic States — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States, as well as six organizations representing Arctic indigenous peoples, which have status as Permanent Participants: Aleut International Association (AIA), Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC), Gwich'in Council International (GCI), Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON), and Saami Council (SC). They take part in preparing Arctic Council documents and decisions on a par with the eight Arctic states.

Russian representatives of the Aleut and Mansi people addressed the Fairbanks ministerial meeting.