On August 9, the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, the authorities of the Sakha Yakutia Republic instituted a new holiday called Reindeer Breeder Day.

The annual holiday will be marked on the first Saturday of March, Head of Yakutia Aisen Nikolayev said on his Instagram account.

"We have instituted this holiday to preserve the traditional lifestyle of Yakut reindeer breeders, their culture and handicrafts industry. This project will create favorable conditions for the well-balanced development of the Northern reindeer-breeding sector by making the reindeer breeder's profession more prestigious," he noted.

Nikolayev added that the regional Ministry for the Development of the Arctic and on the Peoples of the North had drafted a Young Reindeer Breeder program, stipulating a one-off lump sum payment of one million rubles to young reindeer breeders to improve their living conditions.