Independent Area of TCHUKOTKA [see map]

President : Roman Abramovitch, 37 years old, petrol magnate, owner of Sibneft and… Chelsea football club.

The Independent Region of Tchukotka, is the fartherst region from Moscow and the most eastern of the eurasian continent. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from the Artic Ocean. Its territory sits across the polar circle. When it is Sunday 12:00PM in Uelen, only 100 kilometres away in Alaska, it is Monday 12:00PM.

Geography
The Tchuktche peninsula and a few other islands, such as the Wrangel Island, belong to the Tchukotka region. The coast is very rugged. The topography of the area is a mix of hills and plateaus (Tchukotski plateau in the north at 1843m and Anadyr plateau in the south). The main river is the Anadyr (1145 km).

Climate
The elders describe the climate as follows: ”The weather is bad one month per year, very bad during two months and worse the other nine months”.
The region’s climate is influenced by its geographic position. It is shaped by the mixing of the hot and cold currents of the two oceans. Winters are very long, storms can last for days. Temperatures vary from +14/4 to –40/60. Summers are short, rainy and cold. Snow never really melts. Summer like winter, the weather can change during the same day: snow falls are frequent in the summer. The Wind blows from 5 to 12 m/s (up to 40m/s !).

Fauna and flora
In spite of severe climate, fauna and flora are very diverse. One can distinguish 3 zones: the artic desert in the north (Wrangel Island), tundra in the centre and Taiga in the south. There are 900 different species of high plants and 400 lichens and moss. The fauna is also very diverse and unique for Russia and it belongs to the ”artic assemble” with its centre in Alaska. One can find in Bering Sea around 400 different types of fish as well as walrus and whales. There are more than 220 different species of birds, a large number of fur animals (white and black bears, reindeer, sables, wolves, foxes…) and numerous insects. A network of parks and natural reserves work to protect the nature.

Population
In 2004, 51410 people were recorded, that is 0.07 person/km2, belonging to 60 different nationalities : Russians 66.1%, Ukrainians 9.4%, ”Nations from the North” 20% (Tchuktches, Yu’pit – Inuit Siberian family, Evens, Tchuvantses, Iukaghirs…).

66% of the population lives in urban areas. The population has dropped significantly in the recent years (163934 inhabitants in 1989). It is due to high migration to more attractive regions where climate and economy are better (closing of factories, unpaid owed salaries). The main cities are: Anadyr (capital, 10873 people), Bilibino (5946 people), Pevek (the most northen city in Russia, 4780 people), Providenia (2686 people) Uelen, lavrentia.

Resources and economic situation
The Tchukotka region like many other regions or republics of the Russian federation are going through a very severe economic crisis. The region’s main source of income is mining, approx. 90% (gold, coal, etc…). Apart from high emigration to other regions, unprofitability of the gold mining is the main reason for the crisis. 48 factories (private, semi-private or state owned) manage the gold extraction. The production has gone down from 40 tonnes to 14 tonnes per year, making the ratio falling from 1.6 kg/pers/an to 0.2kg/pers/an.
Created during the USSR time, industrial breading of reindeer, fishing and production of meat dropped because they were not competitive.
Infrastructure, housing are in neglected deplorable state. Despite its high potential, the region was declared bankrupt in 2004.