Translated material
Russian regions: Republic of Komi
Igor Yakovenko: Natalya Vasilievna, what is happening in the economy and social sphere of this republic?
Natalya Zubarevich: The Republic of Komi has done a very great evolution, of course, in 20 years. She began her life as a sufficiently strong raw material region, with a very autonomous power represented by the head of the Republic of Spiridonov. And she managed to recapture very decent benefits to herself in the Yeltsin period. And until the second half of 90 it was possible to say that this is one of the best subjects of the federation from the point of view of the ability to work with the federal government. Because they repelled very decent powers. The same republic was able to organize its regional company Committee, and for a long time the budget of the republic and people involved in the power of this republic received revenues from this company. And such a variant of modern Tatarstan was, but it all ended. This ended at the very end of the 90s with the entrance to the republic, first of the oil croupon, it was Lukoil. Then metallurgists pulled themselves up, Severstal discouraged Osinov’s assets of Vorkutin's basin, and there is a little MDM group. But the bottom line is that somewhere in 2003-4 the republic and the main economic assets were under the control of large Russian companies.
By that time, the leader was replaced, he was not at all so charismatic, not at all able to pull on himself, not like Spiridonov, the head of the Torlopes, and the republic became an ordinary raw material region, in which large Russian companies make the weather. Until the fact that several vice-governors during the Torlopov period were direct immigrants from one of the large Ural companies and tracked the interests of this company so that the money was on the road and further. This has become a colonization zone to a very large extent. The situation is quite difficult. Komi is still just a little subsidized, 1-2%, but it is formally not a donor. In Komi, stable many years of unemployment in peripheral logging villages. There are more investments, because there are always more investments in the oil regions, and Western companies came there and Lukoil invests. That is, these are not a funeral, it is not a funeral at all - it is a reformatting of economic space. Hard, with increased export of profit, with weak leadership for a sufficiently long time, which could not counteract this with a very strong paternalistic component in the sensations of the population.
Igor Yakovenko: Thank you, Natalya Vasilievna. Dmitry Borisovich, despite such moderate optimism of Natalya Vasilievna, nevertheless, over the past 17 years, depopulation in this republic amounted to 22%. This is connected, from your point of view, with what? What happens in society and in the political sphere of this republic?
Dmitry Oreshkin: Indeed, this is not a funeral, indeed, what is called concentration happens. And really occurs the outflow of the population, which is characteristic of almost the entire Russian province, especially Northern. But for example, I must say that in comparison with the Chukotka, where over the past 15 years, judging by the data of electoral statistics, more than 50% of voters, that is, the adult population has left, you are talking about 22%. This is logical. Because young people especially do not see their use there, go to the center, go to Moscow, to St. Petersburg. Because with all due respect to Ust-Sysolsk, which is now called completely differently, it is a city that does not have a serious university and some other tradition. Now, if you take 21 years, the chronicle of the Soviet era, Ust-Sysolsk, the capital of the Komi region, is now called Syktyvkar, 5 thousand people in total, and in total the population of 205 thousand, that is, the share of urbanization is 2.5%. Now there is a sharp increase in urbanization, because all industry development is underway. Ukhta, Usinsk is built and so on. But, of course, this is so slowly compared to the capabilities that people receive in the center of the country, in large cities, much more interesting work, much higher earnings, much more interesting cultural prospects, the people are leaving.
Igor Yakovenko: Natalya Vasilievna, for a year now, as Mr. Gaiser replaced Komi Mr. Torlopov as the republics of the Republic, do you have any observations regarding the quality of the regional management that have changed or have not changed over the past year?
Natalya Zubarevich: To begin with, not replaced in the worst conditions. Because Komi, like the main regions of the TEK, almost did not lose industry, there was no noticeable decline in industrial during this crisis - this is not its crisis. Secondly, she did not lose the budget revenues much, although it is relatively small - 45 billion for the northern territory of almost a million people - this is not much. But in any case, there was no acute budget crisis. But what I notice that the proportions in expenses are changing. The costs of education and healthcare intensified decently, and this is very important because they contracted during the late Torlopov. At the same time, the costs of national economy were reduced, that is, budget investment decreased, and that was right, because it was very specific. And at the same time, that the population of Komi will not like, but an absolutely objective thing, the costs of housing and communal services have decreased, because the degree of subsidiary there is monstrous. As a result, Komi is a territory that was less supported by social payments, they were increased earlier, there are good laws, not generally good, and against the background of other constituent entities of the Russian Federation, we all compare relatively, and investments have intensified what human, increasing human capital. If this is done as part of the strategy of the new head of the republic, I can only greet. Because the old strategies consolidated the money for the investment necessary for the business, which is not very good, and we had a piece of a piece by a piece of expenses for human capital.
Igor Yakovenko: Dmitry Borisovich, the Komi Republic is one of the few republics where a radical change took place in just a few decades, because in 1926, the native people of Komi represented the indigenous people in 1926, today they were already 25%, and the majority, 60%, make up the Russians.
Dmitry Oreshkin: But here, as always, a set of reasons. Of course, industrial growth in the first place. Vorkuta, for example, is a Soviet city, which has grown thanks to coal, respectively, those people who can find this coal as geologists can develop it as engineers can cut it as prisoners. And this was mainly, of course, the visiting people. Still, Komi, Zyryans, even earlier called the Permians - these are the local people who were engaged in mainly reindeer husbandry, terrible problems of anthrax and so on. When you drive along the Komi, there are all these valleys, the valley of death, and so on. These are people who lived on a local landscape without doing its bowels. As soon as the country climbed into the bowels of the Komi, and there is coal, there is oil, there is gas, and naturally, industrial growth became. And this is the main reason for the influx of the Russian -speaking population and, accordingly, a decrease in the share of Komi or Zyryan. The second component is the most depressive evolution of the local population - tuberculosis, drunkenness. A difficult situation. The third reason is objective - urbanization. In that city, which is now called the capital of the republic, there were only 5 thousand people, but now Syktyvkar City, where the airport is a university, where you can live. And all over a hundred years this happened.
Igor Yakovenko: Natalya Vasilievna, your comment.
Natalya Zubarevich: At the beginning of the century there was no huge number of northern cities. Do not forget that this is the north. Murmansk did not exist in principle. And what, Murmansk, we are the same, protruding the lip, we will say: well, the town, well, the university. In general, there are 450 thousand, Komi is a little more than 200. But this is actually a city, which was not attracted in small quantities after the rehabilitation of the Moscow, Leningrad intelligentsia. Ukhta is a city that has grown on two bones. The first bone is convicts, and the second is rehabilitated. In the city of Ukhta, Moscow and Leningrad teachers taught me, taught brilliantly because they were wives and children of prisoners.
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Irina Lagunina
Head of Special Projects of Russian Service Radio Liberty
Laguninai@rferl.org