Mass relocation planned in Russia

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Up to 600,000 Russians are to be moved from Siberia and the Arctic to urban centres, officials in Moscow announced last week. The areas to be “assisted” by the government’s program, which is being partly financed by the World Bank, include Yakutia, Kamchatka and Chukotka.

Inhabitants are to be resettled near cities where they could find work and cheap accommodation. Russia’s department of economic development and trade announced that between 200,000 and 600,000 people would be moved.

Roughly 800,000 people, out of a total population of 11 million, have already left the areas.