It will take the Government of Russia one month to approve master plans for the development of 16 core Arctic communities, and the relevant draft directive has already been submitted to the Government, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic Alexei Chekunkov told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“As instructed by the President, we have included all master plans for the development of core Arctic communities in the Government’s draft directive, and we have submitted this document to the Government on June 16. The Government will approve the draft document in a month and will start implementing it; notably, additional sections of new national projects will be created,” Chekunkov said.

Core communities of the Russian Arctic, covered by master plans, include the Murmansk urban agglomeration (including the city of Murmansk and Severomorsk, a closed administrative-territorial formation), the Kirov-Apatity urban agglomeration and the city of Monchegorsk in the Murmansk Region, the Kem – Belomorsk urban agglomeration in the Republic of Karelia, the Arkhangelsk urban agglomeration, including Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk. The list also includes Naryan-Mar in the Nenets Autonomous Area, the Salekhard – Labytnangi urban agglomeration , the cities of Novy Urengoi and Noyabrsk in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, the Vorkuta urban agglomeration in the Komi Republic, the Norilsk – Dudinka urban agglomeration, the town ship of Dikson and the city of Igarka in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the township of Tiksi with adjacent territories in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the cities of Anadyr and Pevek in the Chukotka Autonomous Area.