The news agency Reuters shares with Russian election officials on their way to remote parts of the sub-republic of Sakha, or Yakutia, in eastern Siberia. It is the largest sub-republic of Russia, but only one million people live there. In the luggage – in addition to ballot papers – sleds, food, clothes and equipment for those who are going to vote.
– Of course we are happy when they fly hiti helicopter, that they don’t forget us, even though we live so far away, says the reindeer herder Arseniy Krivoshapkin.
The Diamond City
The sub-republic of Sacha is one of the world’s coldest places. But there is not only wasteland, but also a large mining industry. For example, a fifth of the world’s diamonds are mined there, but not all of the wealth is shared.
In district 17 of the republic’s capital, Yakutsk, there are workers’ barracks built in the 1960s. For fifty years, various politicians have promised to demolish the houses and evacuate the residents – so even now.
Sergey Kurtskikh shows the AP news agency around the house where he lived for almost 30 years.
– Look how the front door looks, look how the house has settled, he says and knocks on the jagged door linings, where the planks have cracked and loosened.
Sergey Kurtskikh moved into the house in 1995. His wife lived there all her life, but died before the authorities could find alternative accommodation.
Condemned houses
Yakutsk is the largest city in the world built on permafrost and the frozen ground creates many problems. But the rulers in Moscow are almost 500 miles away, as one of the residents, Irina Rekhtina, has experienced:
– When we contacted the authorities, they said: “Putin is there and we are here.” That was all we got in response.
Despite the diamond riches, Yakutsk has more than 1,000 condemned residential buildings, that’s more than eight percent of all apartment buildings in the city. This is the highest percentage in the whole of Russia, more than twelve times the national average.
Some residents hope that the authorities will now keep their promises to build new ones and demolish the decaying barracks. Sergey Kurtskikh is skeptical, he believes that the residents of District 17 have given up hope of being able to move:
– We will go and vote anyway, because we have to vote.