The Nenets Autonomous Okrug is a subject of the Russian Federation.
According to the Charter of the Arkhangelsk region, it is also part of
the Arkhangelsk region, being both a subject of the Russian Federation
and an integral part of the region. This is the most sparsely populated
subject of the Russian Federation.
In accordance with the Charter
of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Okrug is an equal subject of the
Russian Federation and has on its territory the entirety of state power
outside the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and its powers in
matters of joint jurisdiction.
The administrative center is the
city of Naryan-Mar (23,399 people).
The Okrug was formed on July
15, 1929 as the Nenets Okrug, from 1930 to 1977 - the Nenets National
Okrug, the modern name since 1977. It borders in the west on the
Arkhangelsk Region (which it is part of), in the south - on the Komi
Republic, in the east - on the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, from the
north the border runs along the coast of the White, Barents and Kara
Seas, including adjacent islands that are not classified as jurisdiction
of the Arkhangelsk region. The district also includes the village of
Kharuta, completely surrounded by the territory of the Komi Republic.
The entire territory of the district is part of the land territories
of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation and fully belongs to the
regions of the Far North, established in the Russian Federation for the
purpose of regulatory regulation of benefits and compensation to workers
living in areas with a harsh climate.
On May 13, 2020, the heads
of the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug announced the
start of the process of unifying the regions. However, in July 2020, the
suspension of this process was officially announced.
By car
There are no year-round roads. In winter, a winter road is
arranged from Usinsk to Naryan-Mar.
The Nenets Autonomous Okrug is located in the north of the East European Plain, most of it is located above the Arctic Circle. Includes Kolguev and Vaygach islands, Kanin and Yugorsky peninsulas. It is washed by the White, Barents, Pechora and Kara Seas of the Arctic Ocean. In the south, the district borders on the Komi Republic, in the southwest - on the Arkhangelsk region, in the northeast - on the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. The district also includes the village of Kharuta, completely surrounded by the territory of the Komi Republic.
The relief of the territory is mainly flat; the ancient Timan ridge
and the Pai-Khoi ridge (height up to 423 m), swampy areas of the
Bolshezemelskaya and Malozemelskaya tundra stand out.
Geologically, the territory of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug belongs to
two Precambrian sedimentary plates of different ages: Russian and
Timan-Pechora. The conditional boundary between them coincides with the
zone of the West Timan deep faults.
The slabs have a two-story
structure: the lower floor is an intensely deformed folded basement, the
upper one is a gently dipping, weakly deformed sedimentary cover. The
formation of the crystalline basement of the Russian Plate was completed
already in the Middle Proterozoic, and the formation of the folded
basement of the Pechora Plate in the second half of the Proterozoic
(Baltic folding). Both foundations after their formation underwent
repeated transformations, were broken by faults, some sections rose,
others, on the contrary, sank. The result of this is a very uneven
surface.
To the west of the Kara River is the Kara meteorite
crater with a diameter of 65 km.
The Okrug has large oil and gas reserves, as it is located in the
northern part of the Timan-Pechora oil and gas province, which ranks 4th
in terms of oil reserves in Russia. 83 hydrocarbon deposits were
discovered: 71 oil, 6 oil and gas condensate, 1 gas and oil, 4 gas
condensate and 1 gas. At the same time, the depth of occurrence of
hydrocarbons is relatively small, and the physico-chemical properties
are high, as a result, most of the fields have a high profitability.
There are also deposits of coal, manganese, nickel, copper,
molybdenum, gold, diamonds, but most of the deposits have not been fully
explored. Lead-zinc and copper ores have been found on Vaygach Island.
See the category Deposits of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The territory of the district is washed in the west by the waters of
the White, in the north by the Barents and Pechora, in the north-east of
the Kara Sea, forming numerous bays - bays: Mezen, Chesh,
Kolokolkovskaya, Pechora, Khaipudyrskaya, etc.
Characterized by a
dense river network of small rivers, an abundance of small lakes, often
connected by short channels. The rivers belong to the basins of the seas
of the Arctic Ocean and are mostly flat in nature, and on the ridges
they are rapids. The duration of freeze-up is 7-8 months. The thickness
of the ice by the end of winter reaches 0.7-1.2 m, and small tundra
rivers freeze to the bottom.
Among the rivers, the Pechora River
occupies a special place; its lower reaches (220 km) with a vast delta
are located within the district. Depths allow sea vessels to rise to
Naryan-Mar. In terms of water content, Pechora is second only to the
Volga in the European part of Russia. The rivers Vizhas, Oma, Sheaf,
Pyosha, Volonga, Indiga, Chernaya, More-Yu, Korotaikha, Kara, as well as
the tributaries of the Pechora - Sula, Shapkina, Laya, Kolva, Adzva are
significant.
Among the lakes stand out Golodnaya Guba,
Gorodetskoye, Varsh, Nes, lake systems: Vashutkinsky, Urdyugsky,
Indigsky and others. Groundwater, with the exception of the area of the
city of Naryan-Mar, has not been studied enough.
The land fund of the district as of January 1, 1999 amounted to 17,681,048 hectares. It is divided into the following categories: agricultural land - 16,799.3 thousand hectares (95.01%); lands of settlements - 12.4 thousand hectares (0.07%); lands of enterprises of industry, transport and other non-agricultural purposes - 39.8 thousand hectares (0.23%); land for nature protection purposes - 2.0 thousand hectares (0.01%); reserve land - 827.5 thousand hectares (4.68%). The area of agricultural land (hayfields, pastures, arable land) is 25.9 thousand hectares, or less than 0.15% in the structure of the district's land fund. Forests occupy 847.8 thousand hectares (4.8%), swamps - 1089.3 thousand hectares (6.2%), under water - 1000.4 thousand hectares (5.66%). Reindeer pastures account for 13,202.2 thousand hectares (74.67%).
Depending on bioclimatic conditions, topography, nature of parent
rocks, depth of surface waters, the following main types of tundra soils
are distinguished: arctic-tundra gleyic, tundra primitive, tundra
surface-gley, peat-bog, sod. Tundra podzolized illuvial-humus soils are
formed on sandy and sandy soil-forming rocks under conditions of good
drainage. Arcto-tundra gley soils are found on Vaigach Island and the
coast of the Kara Sea, primitive tundra soils are found in the upper
part of the Pai-Khoi slopes, tundra surface gley soils, as well as
peat-bog soils, are widespread throughout the entire district. In the
south-west of the district, in the northern taiga subzone, gley-podzolic
soils and illuvial-ferruginous-humus podzols are formed.
The
soil-forming process is due to low temperatures, short summers,
widespread permafrost, waterlogging, and develops according to the
gley-bog type. Chemical weathering proceeds weakly, while the released
bases are washed out of the soil, and it is depleted in calcium, sodium,
potassium, but enriched in iron and aluminum. Lack of oxygen and excess
moisture make it difficult to decompose plant residues, which slowly
accumulate in the form of peat.
The territory is located in the zones of tundra (76.6%),
forest-tundra (15.4%), the southwestern part - in the northern taiga
subzone (8%). In the tundra zone, subzones of arctic (4.9%), mountain
(3.5%), northern (10.3%), southern (57.9%) tundras are distinguished.
In the Arctic tundra subzone (the coast of the Kara Sea and Vaigach
Island), vegetation does not form a continuous cover. Frozen soil,
exposed on dry soils from snow by strong winds, cracks, and the surface
of the tundra is divided into separate polygons (polygons). The
vegetation consists largely of mosses and lichens, grasses: small
sedges, grasses, cotton grass, as well as slaty forms of shrubs.
In the subzone of mountain tundra, the main background is created by
sedge-lichen associations and creeping shrubs of willow and dwarf birch.
The northern tundra covers the north of the Malozemelskaya tundra,
in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra they are confined to large uplands, the
southern slopes of the Pai-Khoi ridge. Here, the moss and lichen cover
are closed, thickets of dwarf birches and low-growing willows appear.
Significant areas are occupied by grass-sedge swamps, in the valleys of
rivers and streams there are willows and tundra meadows with abundant
multi-species forbs and cereals.
In the subzone of the southern
tundra, large areas are covered with thickets of dwarf birch (dwarf
birch), as well as various types of willows, wild rosemary, and juniper.
A moss and lichen cover is developed, shrubs, forbs, marsh plant
complexes are widely represented. In the forest-tundra zone, sparse
forest vegetation appears on the watersheds, and in the river valleys
and on the southern slopes of the hills, woody vegetation appears in
islands: low-growing spruce and birch, less often larch, alternating
with areas of tundra and swamps.
The northern taiga subzone is
characterized by the presence of large tracts of dense woody vegetation
with a predominance of spruce and spruce-birch forests; pine grows along
the sandy terraces of rivers and in swamps. In the floodplains, areas
with impenetrable thickets of various species of willow and alder
alternate with sedge bogs and meadows. Cereals (reedgrass, bluegrass,
foxtail, red fescue) with an admixture of herbs grow on tundra meadows
and lays.
More than 600 species of flowering plants, several
hundred species of mosses and lichens are found on the territory of the
district. Brown algae predominate among macrophytes, which are
represented here by algae (about 80 species), in rivers and flowing
lakes - sedge, horsetail and arctophila. Diatoms and blue-green algae
dominate in river phytoplankton, while green and diatom algae dominate
in lakes.
In the flora, species of the northern groups are
widespread, and taiga (boreal) species are quite widespread. Among the
flowering plants, cereals, cruciferous, sedge, and willow predominate.
Under anthropogenic impacts on the vegetation cover of the tundra,
shrubs, mosses, and lichens are replaced by grasses that form the
secondary vegetation cover. The largest areas with secondary vegetation
are found in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, in the areas of geological
exploration and oil and gas production.
The flora is rich in
various food plants: berries, edible herbs. Cloudberries, blueberries,
lingonberries, blueberries, crowberries are of the greatest importance.
In the forest-tundra zone, along the river valleys and in the taiga
zone, red and black currants, honeysuckle grow, raspberries,
strawberries, and wild roses are found. In warm years, bird cherry and
mountain ash ripen, and in the south of the Malozemelnaya tundra and in
Kanino-Timanye - cranberries. Sorrel, wild onion and other meadow plants
are used for food.
The resources of fodder plants of floodplain
meadows are rich - cereals, legumes, herbs, sedges; significant reserves
of lichens on deer pastures - cladonia, cetraria; Medicinal plants are
ubiquitous.
There are more than 100 species of cap mushrooms in the district. Their species composition increases in the direction from north to south. In the northern tundra, russula, fly mushrooms, birch mushrooms, dry mushrooms grow from edible ones, aspen mushrooms appear to the south, in the forest tundra and taiga - milk mushrooms, mushrooms, volnushki, white and others.
Represented by the inhabitants of the tundra, taiga, arctic deserts.
Aquatic invertebrates are numerous: ciliates, phytomonads, oligochaetes,
nematodes, rotifers, lower crustaceans, mollusks, etc. The species
composition of insects is diverse, a huge number of blood-sucking ones:
mosquitoes, midges, gadflies. Of the cyclostomes, lamprey is found. More
than 30 species of fish are found in rivers and lakes. From the passage
- salmon, omul and others; from semi-anadromous - nelma, whitefish,
vendace, seld, saurey; of the non-water (local) - pike, ide, roach,
perch, ruff, burbot, naked, peled, broad whitefish, grayling and others.
In coastal seas - herring, saffron cod, flounder, polar cod, smelt, char
and others (about 50 species of marine fish).
From amphibians
there are grass frog, Siberian salamander, common toad, from reptiles -
viviparous lizard. The species composition of birds is diverse - about
160 species, including 110 species of birds nesting in the area. Winters
about 20 species. In terms of species richness and abundance, passerines
and shorebirds (waders) are most represented - more than 40 species
each, and waterfowl - about 30 species. Geese, ducks, as well as
ptarmigan, one of the background species of the tundra and forest
tundra, are of commercial importance.
There are 31 species of
land mammals. The most numerous rodents are lemmings (Siberian and
ungulates) and voles (water, housekeeper, Middendorff, narrow-skulled),
squirrels are found in the taiga. Of the other groups of mammals, the
arctic shrew and mountain hare are common; predators include arctic fox,
wolf, fox, wolverine, brown and polar bear, marten, otter, ermine,
weasel; of artiodactyls - wild reindeer and elk.
In the coastal
seas there are marine mammals: white whale, North Atlantic porpoise,
narwhal, ringed seal, bearded seal, gray seal, Atlantic walrus. Among
terrestrial mammals, the main objects of fishing are arctic fox, fox,
brown bear, marten, otter and elk. Of the marine mammals, only ringed
seals and bearded seals continue to be hunted. A number of species are
acclimatized in the region. Of the rodents, this is the muskrat, which
has spread widely throughout the territory and has been an object of
hunting; from fish - sterlet, but its population remained very small.
Single specimens of pink salmon acclimatized in the Barents Sea basin
come to spawn.
Due to the vulnerability of natural ecosystems, the consequences of
economic activity in the Far North are, as a rule, devastating. One of
the centers of ecological trouble in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug is the
Pechora River and its basin. Pollution of the river and its tributaries
began in the middle of the 20th century. In the mid 1960s. The Ukhta oil
refinery discharged more than 20,000 m3 of sewage per day into the Izhma
and Ukhta, the tributaries of the Pechora. Other tributaries of the
Pechora turned out to be heavily polluted with oil products: the Yarega,
the Voi-Vozh, the Nibel. As a result of the accident at the Vozey-Usinsk
oil pipeline in 1994, the spill of crude oil amounted to more than 14
thousand tons. A significant part of this mass fell into the Kolva
River, and from it into the Usa and Pechora. Pollutants that enter the
water body, under the conditions of the river system, are carried
downstream and accumulate in stagnant zones and the mouth of the
Pechora. Therefore, the highest concentrations of oil products and heavy
metals accumulate in Korovinskaya Bay and Golodnaya Bay.
On April
20, 2012, an accident occurred at the Trebs field, which caused
significant damage to the natural environment: oil flowing from a
reactivated exploration well continued for more than a day, which led to
large-scale pollution of the territory.
On the territory of the
district, to the west of Pechora, there are 5 test sites (until 1996
there were 9) for dropping the separating stages of space rockets
launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. Every year, along with scrap
metal, several tons of rocket fuel are dumped at each landfill -
asymmetric dimethylhydrazine (heptyl), a highly toxic chemical compound.
Accumulating in plants, mushrooms, and through water - in fish, it is a
danger to the tundra and to humans.
Nuclear tests at Novaya
Zemlya, which began in 1955 and continued until the 1990s, had a
negative impact on the environment. During this time, 90 nuclear
explosions were carried out in the atmosphere. Plumes of radiation
reached reindeer pastures, fish ponds and settlements. The highest
levels of radioactive contamination were observed on the island of
Vaygach, in the area of the settlements of Amderma, Karatayka, and
Ust-Kara. In 1961-1962, daily radioactive fallout in Amderma exceeded
the normal radiation background by 11,000 times. The test site on Novaya
Zemlya, including the adjacent water areas, was also used as a giant
nuclear repository. More than 11,000 containers of radioactive waste
were flooded off the coast of Novaya Zemlya.
In 1980, gas was
released at the Kumzha-9 well during drilling, after which a fire
started. In May 1981, a nuclear charge was detonated at the deposit at a
depth of about 1.5 thousand meters in order to shift the geological
layers, but the accident could not be eliminated, the deposit was
mothballed.
Geological exploration had a negative impact on the
tundra, as a result of which, since the 1960s, more than 200 thousand
hectares of reindeer pastures have been disturbed. Even larger areas -
pastures are significantly depleted and disturbed by the immoderate deer
grazing in the 1980s - the first half of the 1990s.
In the 1990s,
the number of cattle in the district was halved. In this regard, they
stopped cutting up to 4-5 thousand hectares of meadows, which led to
their swamping and bushing (which, however, can be considered an
indicator of ecosystem restoration rather than its degradation).
Due to pollution of the Pechora and its tributaries, as well as poaching
of valuable fish species, the stocks of whitefish, vendace, omul, and
salmon decreased several times in the 1990s. By the beginning of 2001,
the relative abundance of spawning stocks of whitefish in the Pechora
was no more than 50,000–60,000 individuals (in 1989, about 150,000). For
the same reasons, some species of birds (peregrine falcon, gyrfalcon,
white-tailed eagle) are listed in the Red Book.
The Nenets Autonomous Okrug belongs to the regions of the Far North.
The climate is subarctic everywhere, turning into a temperate
maritime one on the coast: the average temperature in January is from
-13 ° C on the coast to -22 ° C in the southeast, the average
temperature in July is from +8 ° C on the coast to +15 ° C in the south
; rainfall - about 350 mm per year; permafrost. The absolute minimums
reach -43... -52°C. The absolute maximums are +28... +32°C.
The
Nenets Okrug is subject to the systematic invasion of the Atlantic and
Arctic air masses. The frequent change of air masses is the reason for
the constant variability of the weather. In winter and autumn, winds
with a southern component prevail, and in summer, northern and
northeastern winds are due to the intrusion of cold Arctic air onto a
heated continent, where atmospheric pressure is lowered at this time.
The air temperature in summer is determined by the amount of solar
radiation and therefore naturally rises from north to south. The average
temperature in July in Naryan-Mar is +12°C. In the cold half of the
year, the main factor in the temperature regime is the transfer of heat
from the Atlantic, therefore, a decrease in temperature from west to
east is clearly expressed. The average January temperature in Naryan-Mar
is -18°C, winter lasts, on average, 220-240 days. The entire territory
of the district is located in the zone of excessive moisture. The annual
amount of precipitation ranges from 400 mm (on the coasts of the seas
and on the Arctic islands) to 700 mm. The minimum precipitation is
observed in February, the maximum - in August - September. At least 30%
of precipitation falls as snow, permafrost is present.
The population of the district according to Rosstat is 41,454 people.
(2023). Population density - 0.23 people / km² (2023). National
composition (2010): Russians - 26,648 people. (63.31%), Nenets - 7504
people. (17.83%), Komi - 3623 people. (8.61%), Ukrainians - 987 people.
(2.34%). Urban population - 74.15% (2022).
The majority of the
population are Russians who live in the neighborhood of the Nenets and
Komi. In the capital of the region, Naryan-Mar, there are more Komi than
the Nenets themselves, although they represent the ethnic majority in
settlements closer to the Komi Republic. The eastern part of the
Autonomous Okrug is populated mainly by indigenous peoples - Komi and
Nenets.
The first human settlements on the territory of the district date
back to the 8th millennium BC. e. (paleolithic). There are numerous
sites of the Bronze Age (II-I millennium BC). In the 5th-13th centuries
A.D. e. tribes of unidentified ethnicity lived here, which the Russians
knew under the name "Pechora", and the Nenets called "sirtya". This
culture includes the Orta settlement, the sanctuaries on the Gnilka
River and on the island of Vaygach.
The Nenets migrated to the
territory of the district from the lower reaches of the Ob at the
beginning [source not specified 1328 days] of the II millennium AD. e.
(however, the local dialect is only 500 years old) Around the same time,
the colonization of the extreme north-east of Europe by the Novgorodians
begins. Russian chronicles note the dependence of Pechora and Ugra on
the Kyiv princes in the 9th century and the systematic collection of
tribute. The final establishment of Novgorod's power over Pechora took
place in the 13th-15th centuries. After the annexation of Novgorod to
Moscow (1478), the territory of the current Nenets Autonomous Okrug also
passed to the Moscow state. In 1499, the military expedition of Prince
Semyon Kurbsky on the Pechora founded the border fortress Pustozersk.
This now defunct city was for centuries the administrative and
commercial center of all the lands from the Mezen to the Urals.
The Lower Pechora and the coast of the Barents Sea were mastered, in
addition to Russians (Pomors) and Nenets, also by Komi-Zyryans,
Komi-Permyaks and Komi-Izhma. In the 18th century, Pomors began to
settle on the Kaninsky Peninsula.
In the XIX - early XX century,
the territory of the district was part of the Mezen and Pechora
districts of the Arkhangelsk province.
In 1928, a decree was
issued on the administrative centers of the Kaninsko-Timansky district
of the Mezen district and the Telvisochno-Samoyed district of the
Pechora district of the Arkhangelsk province.
On July 15, 1929,
the Nenets Okrug of the Northern Territory was formed. P. G. Smidovich
and N. E. Saprygin took an active part in the creation of the district.
The structure of the district from the Arkhangelsk province included:
Kaninsko-Timansky district, Peshsky and Omsk village councils of the
Mezen volost of the Mezensky district, Telvisochno-Samoyedsky district
of the Pechora district. From the Komi Autonomous Region (Zyryans):
Bolshaya Zemlya (tundra) of the Izhmo-Pechora district. Thus, according
to the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the
following composition of the Nenets Okrug was approved: the
Kanin-Timansky district, with a center in the village of Nizhnyaya
Pyosha, and the Nenets district (Bolshezemelsky), with a center in the
Khoseda-Khard cult base.
By a decree of the All-Russian Central
Executive Committee of December 20, 1929, changes were made to the
administrative boundaries of the district: the Pustozersky volost of the
Pechora district (with the exception of the Ermitsky village council)
and coastal islands were included in the composition, and a third
administrative district was formed - the Pustozersky district, with the
center in the village of Velikovisochnoe.
In 1930, the Nenets
Okrug was renamed the Nenets National Okrug.
On January 1, 1931,
the population was 14,983 people (all rural), the population density was
0.07 people / km². The area is 214,500 km².
In 1931, the
Pustozersky district was renamed Nizhne-Pechorsky, and its regional
center was moved to the village of Oksino.
By a decree of the
All-Russian Central Executive Committee of March 2, 1932, the
administrative center of the Nenets National District, the Northern
Territory, was transferred from the village of Telvisochnoye to the
working settlement of Naryan-Mar.
By a decree of the Presidium of
the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of February 10, 1934, many
islands located near the territory of the district, including Vaigach
Island, as well as the territory of the Nessky Village Council of the
Mezensky District, were included in the Nenets Okrug.
In 1940,
the Amderma region and tundra councils were formed - Karsky, Yu-Sharsky
and Vaigachsky (island).
In October 1940, the village of Vorkuta
was transferred from the Bolshezemelsky district to the Komi ASSR.
During the Great Patriotic War in Naryan-Mar, from October 1941, a
military airfield began to operate in the city, which belonged to the
772nd air base of the White Sea military flotilla. Aircraft from
Naryan-Mar carried out reconnaissance flights in the Arctic.
On
August 17, 1942, two miles off the northern coast of Matveev Island in
the Barents Sea, the German submarine U-209 opened artillery fire on a
caravan of ships heading from the village of Khabarovo to Naryan-Mar.
Lighter "Sh-500", barge P-4 and tugboat "Komiles" were sunk. The tugboat
"Komsomolets" caught fire and washed ashore. The ship "Nord" managed to
escape. Of the 328 people who were on the ships of the destroyed
caravan, 305 drowned or died during the shelling.
In 1943, an
uprising of the Nenets "Mandalada" took place in the east of the
district.
On Aviation Day 1944, the workers of the Naryan-Mar sea
port handed over to the pilot of the White Sea military flotilla V. V.
Tomashevsky the Il-4 bomber “Worker of the Pechora Fleet”, bought with
the money of the port workers. On September 7, 1944, the workers of the
Nenets District handed over to the pilots of the White Sea military
flotilla the Yak-7B fighter "Naryan-Mar shipbuilder", which was awarded
to the Hero of the Soviet Union, Captain A. K. Tarasov.
In July
1954, Kolguev Island was assigned to the district.
In 1955, the
Nizhne-Pechora region was abolished.
In 1959, all districts of
the Nenets NO were abolished, and their territory passed into direct
subordination to the district.
In 1977, the Nenets National Okrug
was renamed the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
In 1993, the Nenets
Autonomous Okrug, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian
Federation, received the status of a subject of the federation.
In 2005, the Zapolyarny District was formed in the Nenets Okrug.
The bowels of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug are rich in minerals, and
the rivers, lakes and surrounding seas are rich in fish. Mining is
hampered by the transport inaccessibility of the region, as well as the
harsh climate.
The main industries are oil and gas production. A
part of the Timan-Pechora oil and gas basin is located on the territory
of the Okrug, and there are 90 hydrocarbon fields (oil, gas and oil, oil
and gas condensate and gas condensate). There are also about 80 deposits
of building materials (sand, gravel, clay). In addition, the food
industry is developed and, until the early 2000s, sawmilling.
As
of May 2020, there is only one backbone enterprise in the Nenets
Autonomous Okrug - the Naryan-Mar United Air Squadron (air
transportation). At the same time, the largest payer of income tax is
Varandey Terminal LLC (storage and warehousing of oil and products of
its processing) - the enterprise brings more than 2.3 billion rubles to
the budget of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
Dairy cattle breeding
and reindeer breeding are developed in agriculture. Plant growing is
represented by potato growing and greenhouse farming.
The average
monthly salary in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug for 2020 was 82.5 thousand
rubles, with a relatively high official unemployment rate of 8.1%. In
terms of average monthly pensions (22.7 thousand rubles), NAO ranks
second in Russia.
Budget revenues
The volume of tax deductions
of the NAO, according to data for 2019, is 130 billion rubles. Of these,
100 billion go to the federal budget and a little more than 20 billion
remain in the territory of the district itself (16 percent).
In 1990, there were 191.5 thousand deer in the Autonomous Okrug, in 2000 - 136.4 thousand, in 2010 - 165.6 thousand. As of January 1, 2011, agricultural enterprises owned 70% of the deer population of the Okrug.
The specifics of the energy sector of the region is the isolation of most of it from the Unified Energy System of Russia, as well as decentralization - the division into a large number of unrelated local energy systems that provide individual settlements and oil and gas industry enterprises. As of the beginning of 2021, more than 260 thermal power plants of various types (gas turbine, gas piston, diesel) with a total installed capacity of more than 484 MW were operated on the territory of the Nenets Autonomous District. Most of them provide energy for oil and gas production enterprises. In 2020, public power plants (excluding power plants of industrial enterprises) produced 128.4 million kWh of electricity.
For a number of reasons, the transport systems of the NAO are underdeveloped, the NAO is the only European region of the Russian Federation, on the territory of which there is not a single railway. The road connecting Naryan-Mar with the "civilization" in the form of Syktyvkar is in rather poor condition, in fact, it looks more like a country road, at least as far as Usinsk. Also from Naryan Mar there are 2 short roads to neighboring NPs. During the navigation season, somewhere from May to September, shipping operates along the Pechora, the river port is combined with the sea port. Also, about 10 km from Naryan Mar there is an airport of the same name. There is also a seaport and an airport in the village of Varandey.
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1979) - "for achievements in
economic and cultural construction, as well as in connection with the
50th anniversary of the region."
Order of Friendship of Peoples
(December 29, 1972) - "for the great services of the working people in
strengthening the fraternal friendship of the Soviet peoples,
achievements in economic and cultural construction, and in commemoration
of the 50th anniversary of the USSR."
Order ribbons adorn the coat of
arms of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug: on the right is the Order of
Friendship of Peoples, on the left is the Order of the Red Banner of
Labor.
Formed on July 15, 1929, the Nenets National Okrug became part of the
Northern Territory. After the adoption of the Constitution of the USSR,
in accordance with Article 22 of the Constitution on December 5, 1936,
the Northern Territory was abolished, and the Northern Region and the
Komi ASSR were formed on its territory. On September 23, 1937, by the
decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR “On the division
of the Northern Region into the Vologda and Arkhangelsk Regions”, the
Northern Region was abolished. Thus, the Nenets National Okrug became
part of the Arkhangelsk region. In 1959, all districts of the Nenets NO
were abolished, and their territory passed into direct subordination to
the district.
The Nenets Okrug actually turned into one of the
administrative districts of the Arkhangelsk region. According to the
Constitution of the USSR of 1977, the national districts were called
autonomous. In form, this raised their status to national-state
autonomy, in content equated them with administrative-territorial
formations, leaving them in the composition of regions and territories.
sovereignization
On November 13, 1990, at an extraordinary
session of the Nenets District Council of People's Deputies of the 21st
convocation, it was decided to proclaim the Nenets Soviet Autonomous
Republic within the territory of the Nenets District and adopt a
declaration on the sovereignty of the Nenets Soviet Autonomous Republic.
The Nenets District Council of People's Deputies decided:
1.
Proclaim the Nenets Soviet Autonomous Republic within the territory of
the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Adopt a declaration on the sovereignty of
the Nenets Autonomous Republic. Ask the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, in
accordance with Art. 72 of the Constitution of the RSFSR, Art. 73 of the
Constitution of the USSR, to submit for approval by the Supreme Soviet
of the USSR the formation of a new Nenets Soviet Autonomous Republic
within the RSFSR.
2. Using the right of legislative initiative,
apply to the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR and the Supreme
Soviet of the RSFSR with a proposal to recognize the Nenets Autonomous
Okrug as a subject of the Russian Federation, with the right to own, use
and dispose of land, its subsoil, water and other natural resources, the
continental shelf, flora and fauna in their natural state, all national
wealth, which constitutes the economic basis of independence, in the
interests of the multinational people of the district and the RSFSR.
3. Establish a moratorium on the operation of paragraph 1 of this
decision. Remove the moratorium in case of dissatisfaction with
paragraph 2 of this decision. Publish a declaration of sovereignty of
the Nenets Autonomous Republic. Grant the Presidium of the Nenets
District Council the right to make a decision on this issue with
immediate notification of the deputies of the District Council.
Regarding relations with the Arkhangelsk region, a separate item was
prescribed in the decision (the session was attended by representatives
of the regional leadership, including A. A. Efremov).
To maintain
existing ties with the Arkhangelsk region, authorities, enterprises and
organizations are recommended to build their relations on a contractual
and mutually beneficial basis
In 1993, the head of the
administration of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Yuri Komarovsky, tried to
hold a referendum on the direct entry of the district into the Russian
Federation. The resolution on the referendum was canceled by the Decree
of Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
The Arkhangelsk region and
the Nenets Autonomous Okrug in 1993, in accordance with the constitution
of the Russian Federation, received the status of subjects of the
federation.
On March 25, 1994, the first agreement on relations
between the state authorities of the Arkhangelsk region and the Nenets
Autonomous Okrug was signed.
The first official proposals for the unification of the Nenets
Autonomous Okrug with the Arkhangelsk Region began to come from
Arkhangelsk in 2004, after the election of Nikolai Kiselev as the Head
of the Administration of the Arkhangelsk Region (in the first round of
elections, the majority of the population of the Okrug voted against
everyone), who was supported in this matter by the Plenipotentiary
Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the
Northwestern Federal District Ilya Klebanov. This caused active
opposition from the inhabitants of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. A group
of residents of the village of Velikovisochnoye appealed to the assembly
of deputies of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug with a proposal for a
referendum that would remove this issue from the agenda once and for
all. The referendum proposal was recognized by the deputies as
inconsistent with the current legislation. On January 1, 2004,
amendments to the federal law “On the General Principles of Organization
of Legislative (Representative) and Executive Bodies of State Power of
the Subjects of the Russian Federation” came into force, according to
which the income of autonomous regions from a part of federal taxes and
fees, as well as most of the powers of authority, were transferred to
the regions and regions. The Assembly of Deputies of the Nenets
Autonomous Okrug unsuccessfully tried to challenge these amendments in
the Constitutional Court. In April 2004, a deputy of the Assembly of
Deputies of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Alexander Vyucheisky, in
protest, in connection with the adoption of these amendments, returned
to Russian President Vladimir Putin his gift - a wristwatch. In 2005,
2006 and 2007, there were agreements between the Arkhangelsk Region and
the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, according to which the Okrug transferred
part of its income to the regional budget, and the Region did not
interfere in the management of the Okrug. During this period, statements
of unification from the Arkhangelsk region continued, and protest moods
in the district grew. On November 1, 2007, the Head of the Arkhangelsk
Region Administration, Nikolai Kiselyov, arrived in Naryan-Mar, where he
held a meeting with the residents of the district. At the meeting,
Nikolai Kiselyov announced the need for the region to exercise its
powers on the territory of the district. On November 17, 2007, a rally
was held in Naryan-Mar against the unification processes taking place
between the NAO and the Arkhangelsk region. The decision to conclude the
next agreement on the delimitation of powers with the district was never
made, and on January 1, 2008, a number of powers and part of the income
of the NAO were transferred to the Arkhangelsk region. From December
2007 to February 2008, three groups of citizens tried to initiate a
referendum on the direct entry of the district into the Russian
Federation, but their applications were rejected by the district
election commission.
The subsequent course of events showed that
the Arkhangelsk region does not have the ability to effectively exercise
its powers on the territory of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, therefore,
since 2009, the process of gradual transfer of power back to the
jurisdiction of the district began.
According to the agreement
between the Arkhangelsk region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug dated
June 5, 2014, all state powers from January 1, 2015 are transferred for
execution to the authorities of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The
agreement will be valid until December 31, 2021.
Consolidation of
the district with other subjects of the Russian Federation can be
carried out only on the basis of the will of the majority of citizens
living in the district and having the right to vote. The majority of the
Okrug's residents have an extremely negative attitude towards the idea
of unification with the Arkhangelsk Oblast (according to data provided
by Tatiana Badyan, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Nenets
Autonomous Okrug).
In 2020, discussions intensified on the possibility of combining
regions in the future.
On May 13, 2020, Alexander Tsybulsky and
Yuri Bezdudny, who had been appointed interim governors of the
Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug a month earlier,
announced the start of the process of unification of the regions.
After the signing of the memorandum, protests began in the Nenets
Autonomous Okrug against unification with the Arkhangelsk region. The
working group of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug on the unification of
regions noted "extremely negative moods of the inhabitants of the Nenets
Autonomous Okrug.
On May 19, members of the working group on the
unification of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug with the Arkhangelsk region
proposed to consider an even more specific option - to add another
region to the Arkhangelsk region - the Komi Republic. The head of the
working group, Matvey Chuprov, argued that the regions allegedly have
close ties with each other. The next day, Acting Head of the Komi
Republic Vladimir Uyba spoke out against the idea of uniting the region
with the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
On
May 23, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko supported the
proposal to unite the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous
Okrug. According to V. I. Matvienko, the decision should ultimately be
made by the residents of both regions themselves, and that a number of
other regions, unnamed by her, in the event of a merger, could receive
new opportunities for development, but such issues should be discussed
separately. The speaker also noted that there are enough arguments in
favor of the unification of the regions, which, however, she did not
tell the press.
On May 26, 2020, the acting governors of both
regions announced that it was premature to hold a referendum on the
unification of the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
On July 1, 2020, at the all-Russian vote on amendments to the
Constitution of Russia, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug became the only
subject of the federation where the majority of voters (55.25% against
the amendments and 43.78% for) voted against the amendments. According
to the Acting Governor of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug Yuri Bezdudny, the
inhabitants of the region, who voted against the amendments to the
Constitution, thus protested against the plans to unite with the
Arkhangelsk region.
On July 3, 2020, Yuri Bezdudny announced his
refusal to unite with the Arkhangelsk Region. Correspondence controversy
between the two governors received a new impetus on July 9, when and. O.
The head of the Arkhangelsk region, Alexander Tsybulsky, publicly denied
the words of his colleague Bezdudny and confirmed that the idea of
\u200b\u200bunifying the regions was not canceled, but postponed.
In administrative-territorial terms, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug
consists of 1 city of district subordination (Naryan-Mar), 1 district
(Zapolyarny district), 1 urban-type settlement (Iskateley village). All
other settlements have the status of rural (Amderma settlement was
transformed into a rural-type settlement in 2004).
Municipalities
Since 2006, the territory of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug has been
divided into 1 municipal district (Zapolyarny district) and 1 urban
district (Naryan-Mar).
The Zapolyarny region, in turn, is divided
into 1 urban settlement (Iskateley Village) and 18 rural settlements,
corresponding in administrative division to 17 village councils and one
village (Amderma).
Settlements
In the Nenets Autonomous Okrug
there is 1 city (Naryan-Mar), 1 urban-type settlement (Iskateley), 42
rural settlements.
The highest, permanent executive body of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug
is the Administration of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, headed by the
Governor.
The highest and only legislative (representative) body
of state power in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug is the Assembly of
Deputies of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The highest court of
general jurisdiction on the territory of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug is
the Court of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
On September 11, 1995,
the Assembly of Deputies of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug adopted the
Charter of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
Deputies of the State
Duma elected from NAO
Chilingarov, Artur Nikolaevich - Deputy of the
State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia of the I, II, III, IV and V
convocations (from 1993 to 2011) in the Nenets single-mandate
constituency No. 218.
Pekhtin, Vladimir Alekseevich - Deputy of the
State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia of the VI convocation (from
2011 to 2013) was elected on the regional list of the United Russia
party. On February 20, 2013, Vladimir Pekhtin voluntarily resigned as a
deputy of the State Duma, in connection with allegations of concealing
income and real estate.
Vtorigina, Elena Andreevna - Deputy of the
State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia of the VI convocation
(since April 3, 2013). Elected on the regional list of the United Russia
party.
Chirkova, Irina Alexandrovna - Deputy of the State Duma of the
Federal Assembly of Russia of the VI convocation (in 2011 she was
elected on the regional list of the LDPR party.
Kotkin, Sergey
Nikolaevich - Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia
of the VII convocation in the Nenets single-mandate constituency No.
221.
Senators
Elected on December 12, 1993 in the Nenets
two-member constituency No. 83.
Sablin Leonid Ivanovich, from
January 1994 to January 1996.
Komarovsky Yuri Vladimirovich, from
January 1994 to January 1996.
*From the Assembly of Deputies of the
Nenets Autonomous Okrug
See List of members of the Federation
Council from the legislature of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
*From the Administration of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug
See the
list of members of the Federation Council from the executive branch of
the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
Newspapers
"Naryana Vander";
"Choice of the NAO" (release has
been suspended since the beginning of 2017).
Since the early 2000s,
newspapers have also been distributed in the district: Nerm Yun (Polar
News), Polar Capital, Choice of the People, Yedey Vada (New Word),
Izvestia NAO.
A television
"GTRK "Zapolyarye";
TV channel
"North".
Since August 2012, the Sever TV channel began broadcasting
on the Tricolor TV satellite network.
Broadcasting
"GTRK
"Zapolyarye";
"Naryan-Mar FM";
Sever FM.
Nenets district radio
first went on the air on April 1, 1965. In 1993, on the basis of the
editorial office of the district radio, the Nenets television and radio
broadcasting company Zapolyarye was created, which became part of the
All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.