KRASNOYARSK, October 29. /TASS/. The Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) will allocate 830 million rubles ($11 million) within 2021 to support southbound relocation of residents from Norilsk and Dudinka. The current program’s term expires in 2020, but Nornickel will continue the work, the company’s Vice President Andrei Grachev told TASS.

In 2011, Russia’s Ministry for Regional Development, the Krasnoyarsk Region, Norilsk and Nornickel signed an agreement on support in relocation of residents from Norilsk and Dudinka. The program’s participants are people, who have worked in the Far North for at least 15 years. From 2016, the federal center stopped its participation in the program.

"The company has been allocating 830 million rubles every year," the vice president said. "The company’s President Vladimir Potanin has decided to allocate 830 million rubles for year 2021, regardless of the program’s term, <…> be it even unilaterally."

More than 6,000 families have moved southbound under the program. Most people prefer moving to the Krasnoyarsk Region’s southern districts. Many chose to move to Moscow and St. Petersburg regions.