MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. Implementation of master plans to develop Arctic backbone cities will give an impetus to development of the region's small settlements, press service of the Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic said.

Earlier at the Direct Line Q&A session, President Vladimir Putin said the practice of master plans' implementation will be extended to the entire country, and this process is most important for the Russian Arctic.

"The Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic has listed Arctic settlements that play a key role in the socio-economic development of the Russian Arctic, in ensuring security and logistics," the press service quoted Deputy Minister Elvira Nurgalieva as saying. "It includes 16 agglomerations. Those are cities and towns with a total population of more than one and a half million. The master plans and other socially significant programs, being implemented now, are aimed at creating comfortable working and living conditions in the northern regions."

According to the deputy minister, the master plans have been designed to upgrade and develop the urban economy, social, transport and communal infrastructures to make a comfortable urban environment and to build new housing. "This work will improve living conditions for more than 4 million people in the Far East, and it is important the program will be extended to the Russian Arctic," she explained.

Earlier, press service of the president's envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev said work on master plans for the city of Polyarnye Zori in the Murmansk Region, cities of Bilibino and Pevek in the Chukotka Autonomous Region had featured specialists of the Rosatom State Corporation.

In December 2023, the government listed 16 major settlements in the Arctic, for which began the work on their development master plans for the period up to 2035.