Inhuman treatment at the hands of Imperial Russia was followed by massive colonization from the Russian West after the Bolshevik Revolution, attended by exile and political imprisonment. The violent excesses and mental and physical anguish caused by this ethnic-Russians-first policy had been prolonged in spite of the later policies by the central government's legislative protection for indigenous cultures.
Even as the Russian economy fell into the throes of collapse, Russian migration to Siberia continued apace. Amongthe most fortunate of the indigenous groups were those like the Yakut, with their own Autonomous Republic, and peoples such as the Nenets, who at least had their own Autonomous States and Autonomous Districts (before 1977 these areas were mere "tribal districts"). Less numerous tribes, however, deemed too few to warrant their own political entities, remain isolated communities and appear doomed to cultural extinction.
The development of natural resources and policies to stimulate local industry had a momentous impact on indigenous peoples. The Dolgan and Nenets Autonomous Districts-two of the most remote areas of Siberia, perched inside the Arctic-suffered from a baleful influence of the industrial city of Norilsk, which was founded as a core town of the non-ferrous metallurgy industry. The vast reindeer pasture adjacent to the city was constantly disrupted by trucks rumbling in and out of Norilsk. Damaged beyond hope of recovery or repair, this fragile plain is now a bleak and lifeless wasteland. The pastoral kolkhoz on the far eastern tip of the reindeer lands, were known as far away as Northern Europe as one of the success stories of indigenous administration. With the urbanization of Norilsk, however, the kolkhoz was nationalized under the bureaucratic state-farm administration, and their livelihood was gradually eliminated. This upheaval ultimately led to extinction oh the kolkhoz. Although the fur and fishery operations of the state-farm were profitable enough, thousands of head of reindeer returned to the wild, inflicting grievous impact on the reindeer ecosystem.
With the opportunity to hunt snatched away by the Russians, many indigenous peoples were out of work and live in squalid conditions. The reindeer herding communities were gripped with despair.
If the indigenous communities shrink below a certain level, they will lose their ability to maintain a separate identity-both culturally and by the simple math of population expansion. Meanwhile Russian settlers continue to move into the region, expunging the indigenous cultures through intermarriage. Today, Russia's authorities face numerous problems as they try to preserve traditional cultures of the indigenous peoples while integrating them into modern society.
