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Russia to spend $23 mln by 2025 to support indigenous peoples

The funds will be spent on infrastructure facilities, development of education and culture and preservation of traditional economic activities

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. More than 1.3 bln rubles (some $23 mln) will be allocated by 2025 to support indigenous peoples in the Arctic, Siberia and Far East, Alexander Nenashev, an official at the Federal Agency for Nationalities, said on Friday.

"The state program envisages a number of important mechanisms to support indigenous ethnic groups. Its implementation implies the allocation of over 1.3 bln rubles by 2025 to the regions populated by these indigenous groups," Nenashev said at the first summit of indigenous peoples of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region.

He said these funds will be spent on infrastructure facilities, development of education and culture and preservation of traditional economic activities.

"Despite obvious positive trends in the protection of indigenous people’s rights, there are serious problems often linked to the survival of these ethnic groups which cannot be resolved only through the development of interstate mechanisms and instruments of support."

The Barents Euro-Arctic Region was established in 1993 at a meeting of foreign ministers of Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and representatives of the European Commission.