Oil costs people's lives

Oil companies that came to the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug less than 50 years ago consider themselves the rightful owners of these territories. They have pushed the original owners of the taiga - local reindeer herders and fishermen who have lived here for many centuries - to the brink of survival, and are now taking away the last shreds of undeveloped nature from them.

During our trip to oil spill sites, we met the Khanty. These are the Ugric people who, since ancient times, have lived in the taiga and tundra using what nature provides: fishing, collecting berries and nuts, hunting forest game. Their main occupation is herding reindeer. Reindeer wander in search of food - white moss, reindeer moss, and the Khanty move with them, carrying collapsible dwellings with them. They live in small camps, each with 5-7 families.

They invited us to their place in Ustye-Vatiegan on the Agan River, which flows into the Ob. After talking with the Aipin family, we found out that the life of an entire culture is under threat due to the development of these lands.

The Khanty said that in the 70s, the development of giant oil fields in Siberia began. Oil workers cut down the taiga and built entire cities. Their motto was: "Oil at any cost." And it looks like nothing has changed since then. Lukoil has been operating here since 1995, apparently using the same principle.

Cities were built right on the site of camps, wells were drilled in the middle of pastures, sacred places and even cemeteries. The Agan River became a route for oil transportation. Barges and boats sailed along it day and night. The whole of Agan was flooded with oil, and every few years large spills occurred in the fields. The oil reached the Ob, which is 300 kilometers away. Nobody cleaned it up. Over time, it simply sank to the bottom.

The development of Siberia turned into its virtual destruction. The reservoirs became so shallow that they became unsuitable for transport. The fish that used to be caught in tons has almost disappeared - there is barely enough for food. Due to lack of moisture in the rivers, the forests have become dry, and fires rage every summer. Fire destroys the reindeer's food: reindeer moss burns instantly, but grows slowly - only a few millimeters per year. Along with it, the hope of preserving the identity of the nomadic Khanty people dies.

If the ancestral lands are officially registered, then Lukoil pays compensation - 2,000 rubles per month. Sometimes they give you equipment to use: a boat, a snowmobile. Naturally, this cannot even conventionally be called not only compensation, but even an attempt to create the appearance of compensation for losses. And what will compensate for the damage from hydrocarbon production now that oil can be valued not only in dollars per barrel, but also in the life of the people, in their culture, so ancient and unusual.

The Khanty, in search of food for the reindeer, went further and further into the forest. But today the moment has come when there is nowhere else to go: on all sides there are fires, roads and oil-filled swamps. Now the Khanty are fighting for the last pine forest. This is a family land that has fed the family for several generations.

Now Lukoil plans to drill 90 wells there and build a road right through the forest. The road can be built bypassing it, but for oil workers this is an extra expense. By law, they must obtain the consent of the family, and the Aipins intend to fight.

Every year life in the camps becomes more and more difficult. But the locals are not leaving. “I was born in the forest and have been with deer all my life. And my children don’t want to leave,” says Vasily Tylchin. I really want to believe that we will finally be allowed to live the way we are used to."