Arctic (Arctic Zone)

Main article: Earth (planet)

Arctic development

Main article: Development of the Arctic

Arctic climate

2021: Ice-free Arctic proves a threat to the world

Scientists at the University of Oulu in Finland identified the cause of heavy snowfall in the south Europe in 2018, which led to catastrophic losses in the grape harvest. According to the results of scientific work published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the loss of Arctic sea ice due to climate change can cause severe and cold winters in the middle latitudes.^[1] is briefly described] in a press release on the Phys.org^[2]

Scientific work explains how the disappearance of floating ice in the Arctic threatens the whole world, affecting global climate processes. The "snow paradox" is explained by the fact that the reduction of the Arctic sea ice cover by 50 percent led to an increase in the area of ​ ​ ice-free water and increased evaporation of moisture in winter, which led to more heavy snowfall in southern Europe. Researchers have identified geochemical features in atmospheric vapor moving south of the Arctic, which show that its source was the warm open water surface of the Barents Sea.

Europe was hit by the Beast from the East in 2018 - a powerful cyclone that caused snowfall in February that led to a loss of one billion pounds a day. It turned out that 88 percent of the snow that fell arose from the water evaporated from the Barents Sea.

In an analysis of long-term trends starting in 1979, researchers found that every next square metre of winter sea ice lost in the Barents Sea increased the mass of snow that fell by about 70 kilograms. Over the next 60 years, the Barents Sea is forecast to become completely ice-free, leading to a significant increase in winter precipitation in Europe.

Population and projects

2020: Residents of the Arctic zone in the Russian Federation number 2.5 million people

If by the end of the existence of the Soviet Union the population of the Arctic zone was about 3 million people, now it is about 2.5 million people. There is a fairly large outflow of population from the Arctic territories, which today we have practically nothing to stop.

Large-scale projects are being implemented, yes, Novatek is building Yamal-LNG, yes, Lukoil is developing new fields, yes, Gazprom and Rosneft are building new production enterprises, and, of course, they bring their employees there. But it so happened that there is a very large gap between what private oil and gas companies implement and what the state offers.

Data for July 2020

It is clear that for private companies, no matter how affiliated with the state, the main thing is profit, and they solve issues with personnel quite effectively. At the same time, as practice shows, in 2020 the bulk of people who work at mining enterprises are those who do not stay there to live.

Of course, living conditions in the North are not the best, and leaving people to live there is probably not always profitable. But people don't come into airless space. The Soviet Union left a fairly large legacy in the Arctic: many live and work there. Those who remained in the North after the collapse of the Soviet Union and/or work in the service infrastructure around these oil and gas producers are probably one of the most vulnerable social categories today.

Statistics demonstrate that sometimes the wages of workers in the Arctic in a number of areas, primarily in the service sector, if they are not equal to the same wages in Central Russia, then they differ more than much. But the cost of living in the Arctic is higher than in middle Russia. In addition, if in the middle lane a conditional library worker can start a vegetable garden to feed on it a little, then in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug - hardly.

Of course, it did not contribute to people staying, and the adoption of the pension law, which was extended to the Arctic zone. The cold did not decrease, the climate did not get better. If earlier those who worked in the Arctic in the Far North had a preferential retirement, now this age has caught up with all other Russian citizens. Why people who invested in the development of the Arctic should suffer - no one said.

Of course, we need to solve the question of how to consolidate personnel in the Arctic. Moreover, it so happened that today it is even approximately unclear how many personnel we need. There are still disputes about how we can develop these territories. Should people live in the Arctic on a permanent basis or should they come and leave better?

On the one hand, there is Soviet experience in the development of the Arctic. There is Norilsk, there is Vorkuta - cities that were built beyond the Arctic Circle, and, probably, you can refer to this experience. But let's see what happens to the same Vorkuta, how many abandoned apartments are there now. On the other hand, it will not be possible to develop the Arctic on a rotational basis. It is not for nothing that the Norwegians on Svalbard maintain a constant population while we evacuate our population from Svalbard. There has to be some particular balance.

For people to actually travel and stay in the Arctic to work, find incentives, there must be a whole set of measures to improve life in the Far North. Unfortunately, today there is not only no integrated approach of the state to this, but also some rollback is visible, as with the same law on retirement age. I really want to believe that calls to master the Arctic, not to leave the Arctic, to find a new economic lever for the development of the whole country will be followed not just by empty promises, but by some concrete steps.^[3]

Armed Forces

2023: Map of the world's military bases in the Arctic

The Arctic is a new place for Russia and NATO, where they will increase their military power, Bloomberg wrote in March 2023.

Russia is deploying nuclear submarines in a region whose strategic importance to major powers, including the United States and China, will increase.

The extent of Arctic seabed resources is not well understood, but the region is estimated to contain a fourth of the world's oil and natural gas reserves, and sea lanes can reduce the time of traditional commercial shipping by days or even weeks.

Chronicle

2023

Mishustin approved a list of reference cities and regions for the development of the Arctic

The Government of the Russian Federation approved a list of supporting settlements of the Arctic zone, including those performing functions to ensure national security and the functions of the base for the development of mineral resource centers, the implementation of economic and (or) infrastructure projects in the Arctic. The corresponding document signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was published in early December 2023.

The list includes 16 agglomerations located in nine regions belonging to the Arctic zone. For example, the cities of Murmansk and Severomorsk, as well as the Kola municipal district, became the strongholds of the Murmansk agglomeration. The Arkhangelsk agglomeration includes Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk and Novodvinsk. Also among the strongholds were Naryan-Mar, Novy Urengoy, Noyabrsk, Vorkuta, Norilsk, Dixon, Pevek and Anadyr.

Murmansk

The whole list is as follows:

• Kemsko-Belomorsky agglomeration
• Vorkuta agglomeration
• Tiksi-Nayba
• Agglomeration Norilsk-Dudinka
• Dickson
• Igarka
• Arkhangelsk agglomeration
• Murmansk agglomeration
• Kirov-Apatit agglomeration
• Monchegorsk agglomeration
• Naryan-Mara agglomeration
• Pevek
• Anadyr agglomeration
• New Urengoy
• Salekhard-Labytnangi agglomeration
• Noyabrsk

For agglomerations that are included in the list, long-term plans for integrated socio-economic development will be approved. They will reflect the main measures to update and create a new infrastructure with system state support. It is noted that some of the settlements located near mineral deposits will become the basis for the development of mineral resource centers that ensure the development of the metallurgical industry. In other cities and districts, priority investment projects will be implemented, for example, the creation of logistics centers.

In July 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Cabinet of Ministers, together with the regions, to determine the list of strongholds in the Arctic and prepare master plans for their development until 2035. The head of state stressed that the practical implementation of measures in the cities of the Arctic zone is important to begin as early as 2025.

Government of the Russian Federation dated November 28, 2023 No. 3377-r

The government allocated 30 billion rubles for the development of cities in the Arctic zone

In early October 2023, it became known that the Government of the Russian Federation allocated 30 billion rubles to create cities in the Arctic zone. According to the head of the Ministry of Finance of RFAnton Siluanov during the parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council (Federation Council) on the draft budget, we are talking about three years of support for closed administrative-territorial entities (ZATO) - they provide for expenses in the amount of 10 billion rubles a year.

During the parliamentary hearings in the Federation Council, the governor of the Murmansk region Andrei Chibis also spoke. He recalled that the topic of financing ZATO was discussed at a meeting in the Federation Council a year ago. With the support of the president, funds from the federal budget were allocated for the development of Arctic cities. The regions have prepared action plans for the renewal of ZATO.

The government allocated 30 billion rubles to create cities in the Arctic zone

As RBC writes in the issue of October 3, 2023, since 2019, about 14 billion rubles have been allocated for the development of ZATO in the region, taking into account the expenses of 2023, a third of which are federal budget funds. In general, the implementation of a comprehensive plan for the renovation of ZATO in the Murmansk region began in 2021. The plan provided for 26 measures totaling 978 million rubles, of which 695 million rubles were allocated from the federal budget and 283 million rubles from the regional budget.

In 2022, the renovation of ZATO was carried out at the expense of the budget of the Murmansk region. In 2023-2024 there is already the third stage of renovation, which includes 124 events in the territory of 24 settlements of the region.

The first stage of renovation affected seven municipalities: Severomorsk, Aleksandrovsk, Vidyaevo, Zaozersk, Alakurtti, Olenegorsk with a subordinate territory and Pechenga district. It was noted that under the ZATO renovation program in the Murmansk region, more than 152 thousand people will be able to improve their living conditions, which is about 20% of the population. ^[4]

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