Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 2005 / Andrei
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005 / Nenets Brigade number five is in the Pechora-delta, some forty kilometres from the Barents Sea in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) in North Russia. It is one of the four remaining brigades of the oldest kolchoz in the NAO.
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005 / In the current kolchoz system, the reindeer and everything surrounding them is the property of the collective. The Nenets in the brigades have only a small share in the collective and barely receive a salary.
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005 / Life on the tundra is hard and it earns just a hundred euros a month for long days of work.
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 2005 / Carcass
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005 / Prokopi
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005 / The grazing area of the ‘Vyudjinski’ reindeer brigade is located above the polar circle, along the inhospitable coast of the Barents Sea. In Communist times, Vyudjinski was the best kolchoz in the region, where 70,000 reindeer used to graze. Now that has plummeted to 5,000 animals.
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 2005 / Crossword puzzle
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 2005 / Malitsa
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005
Russia, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, August 2005 Vova and Grisja, twin brothers of twelve years old, are also present at the Brigade, because it is the school holidays. They don’t know yet if they want to be reindeer herders.