Arkhangelsk-Nenets relations: forced marriage between inequal partners

Russian federal subjects, which territories were included into territories of the other federal subjects became very strange juridical formations in the new Russia. Even the Russian Constitutional Court could not thoroughly explain what they were and the reasons for their formation. Nevertheless, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, together with other autonomous okrugs got such form of existence. More than ten years have already since the day when the inhabitants of the Nenets Okrug voted at a referendum for the Okrug's independence and separation from the Arkhangelsk oblast. During that time, separate executive and legislative powers were formed in the okrug, branches of the major federal authorities were established here and an own legislative base was established.

However, most important is that the Okrug got financial independence. A separate budget filled with tax payments from the companies working in region has allowed Nenets Okrug to not depend on the oblast authorities. Of course, at the beginning incomes of the region were limited enough, and during long years it had been surviving only due to grants from the federal centre. Only last three years incomes of the regional budget have considerably grown and allowed okrug not to depend any more on transfers from Moscow. When the oil boom started, Nenets Okrug became a donor to the federal budget for the very first time in its history.

New political worship

Over the past ten years, people in the Nenets Okrug have got used to the idea, that the okrug was an independent region. During all those ten years nobody questioned the sovereignty of the region as a subject of the Russian Federation.

However, other times came recently. The idea of Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, about the creation of a stronger power vertical quickly penetrated into the heads of Russian officials on different levels. The new generation of politicians, which has been raised with an implicit faith in the leader, began to develop any presidential plan to a hyperbolic extent.

Some politicians in so-called compound subjects especially liked the idea on integration of Russian regions. Though the President spoke about the necessity of careful approach and reasonableness in such processes, there immediately appeared power interests wishing to start merge of the okrugs with the oblasts. For some reason, Vladimir Putin's statement about the population of the regions having the last word in the matter of merging, as laid down in the Russian Constitution, was forgotten. "Hot political heads" at once began to think how to overcome this inconvenient demand. Some even announced about a need for "spadework" with the population, which itself can not understand what is necessary for the state. The central and regional mass media have actively joined in the struggle for the prompt realization of President's inventions.

A rich neighbor means a bad neighbor

The first sample of merging of Russian subjects did not keep the President waiting long. It was the merge of Komi-Permjak Okrug with the Perm Oblast. The situation there was rather predictable. An okrug with limited incomes found it more convenient to come under trusteeship of a more prosperous oblast.

The situation with the Nenets Autonomous Okrug is the exact opposite. Incomes per capita, average wages in region and other parameters of the Okrug's economics today considerably exceed the same data in the neighboring regions. Moreover, the huge reservoirs of natural resources, mainly hydrocarbons, allow the Okrug to think that this difference will just increase in the future. Nevertheless, former leaders both of Arkhangelsk Oblast and Komi Republic have started to speak about how it would be reasonable to join up Nenets Okrug with their regions. At the same time, it is as clear as daylight, that the suggestion of merging pursues not the interests of the 41 000 inhabitants of the Nenets Okrug, but rather the desire to set up total control over the territory and incomes from the oil production.

The political ambitions in relation to the Nenets Okrug ended badly for the leaders of the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk Oblast. The population of those subjects has chosen new heads of regions in a hope that they would find the solutions of problems at least for those territories which already exist. The new leaders of the Komi Republic and Arkhangelsk Oblast have so far been more cautious in their appraisal of the future for the Nenets Okrug. However, dreams about the resources of the okrug have not left neither regional, nor federal politicians. Recently, the presidential aide to the North-West Russian federal district, Ilya Klebanov, who has himself never been in Naryan-Mar, said he finds it irrational to have so many authorities in so sparsely populated subjects, and that a merge between the federal subjects of the Nenets Okrug and the Arkhangelsk Oblast would be of the good.

No money - no problems

Realizing the fact that the small population of the rich Nenets Okrug has much to lose, the federal authorities have come up with an idea about how to deprive the subject of financial resources, without asking about the inhabitants' opinion. For this purpose changes to the tax laws were introduced, which reduce the main source of income for the Nenets Okrug - the tax on mineral production. Just a few years ago, the regions got 60 percent of this tax. In 2003, it was already only 20 percent. In 2004, the region's share decreased to 13,4 percents, and later it is expected to fall to eight. The federal authorities have explained the new rules with the sensible decision to more justly and evenly distribute incomes between the subjects of the Russian Federation. As a result of the decision, the okrug's budget deficiency is estimated to 12,8 percent in 2004.

Another legislative initiative, the draft law "About the basic principles of legislative and executive bodies' organization in the subjects of Russian Federation", has brought even more unpleasant surprises to regional authorities. According to this document, which should come into force in January 2005, the larger part of plenary powers of the Nenets Okrug will be delegated to the Arkhangelsk Oblast's authorities, unless a power sharing agreement between the two is concluded by 2005. Of course, for the maintenance of these powers the essential tax income of the okrug - about 2 billion rubles, will be transferred to the oblast's budget, as well. In this case any further discussions about merging of the okrug with Arkhangelsk Oblast will loose any sense. The total control over the money and all processes in region will be in the hands of the oblast's authorities and the two subjects will practically already be merged.

By Jury Tjuljubaev, Naryan-Mar 

BarentsObserver, 11 May 2004

This is the first of two articles about the possible merging of the Arkhangelsk oblast and the Nenets okrug. See the second article Arkhangelsk-NAO relations: forced marriage between unequal partners (2)