In Yakutia, border guards detained three reindeer herders and took them by helicopter hundreds of kilometers from the camp and the native village of Yukagir to check their passports, the local publication Ilken reports. Reindeer breeders were taken to a department in the unfamiliar village of Tiksi, where for the lack of passports they were fined 500 rubles and released.

Men were far from home without money and documents, in work clothes. In order not to stay on the street, they had to find a way to contact their relatives in Yukagar so that they urgently sent them money. The road to the native village will cost each reindeer herder 60 thousand rubles.

As explained to RT by the State Duma deputy from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Fedot Tumusov, there is simply no direct communication between Tiksi and Yukagir.

“They can’t get home - there’s no direct road there, it's the coast of the sea. Now they flew to Yakutsk (more than 1000 km), then they must fly to Deputatsky (more than 900 km), then to Ust-Kuygi (about 250 km), and then from there, by sea the Laptevs get to their native village. And this is even if there will be weather, ”said the deputy.

Tumusov added that he had already sent a request to the competent authorities to explain the situation. According to him, such detentions do not occur often, but in this case the actions of the border guards were not adequate to the violations committed by the reindeer herders.

“The whole problem is that they were taken a thousand kilometers away, and they could fly 50 km to their home in the village so that they would take and show their passports. As a result, they were taken a thousand kilometers from the house and left there. Without money, without documents! ”- emphasized the interlocutor of RT.

Detention Violations

According to Yakut media, on the day of the arrival of border guards, on September 11, herd leader No. 12 Konon Tomsky and two other members of the brigade were on Chuurkan, a site of a reindeer herding base 50 km from Yukagir. Border guards arrived there by helicopter, broke into the base with machine guns and demanded that they be presented with documents. Only Tomsky had a passport - two other members of the brigade left them in Yukagir.

The reindeer herders asked the border guards to fly with them to the village, located 50 km from the base, where they could present the documents, but the border guards decided to take them hundreds of kilometers to the Tiksi branch to identify the detainees. Konon Tomsky, who had a passport with him, flew with them, as the rest of the brigade did not speak Russian well.

Local media, citing Tomsky, said that during the detention, border guards committed many violations: they didn’t show any certificates, unbeknownst to the reindeer herders took their phones, destroyed the base and broke two kerogas stoves, with which the reindeer herders warmed up overnight with the herd.

During the detention, border guards also seized 150 kg of mammoth tusks from the base, although Tomsky claims that he has permission to collect them. He also told reporters that the reindeer herders were not provided with any protocols on the detention, search and seizure of property.

In addition, according to him, a herd of 1,600 deer was left unattended, many of them scattered in the tundra, and because of the long absence of the brigade, the construction of a shelter for 2.5 thousand head of cattle could be disrupted. All this can lead to the decline of the life of Yukagir, whose population is completely dependent on reindeer husbandry.

  • An emergency meeting was held on September 17 at the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the RS (Y) Lena Ivanova on the treatment of three reindeer herders from the village of Yukagir, Ust-Yansky District, whom the FSB Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Eastern District took out on September 11 this year to Tiksi by helicopter
  • © sakhaday.ru

On September 17, Lena Ivanova, Commissioner for the Rights of Indigenous Minorities of the North in Yakutia, convened an emergency meeting on the fact of the detention of reindeer herders near Yukagar. According to local media, the Ombudsman stated the need to deal with the situation in detail.

In particular, an appeal was sent to the Border Service of the Russian Federation with a request to evaluate the legitimacy of the actions of employees. It was also decided to require representatives of the FSB of Russia in the eastern Arctic region to provide copies of the protocols on the detention committed by the reindeer herders for an administrative offense and the removal of mammoth tusks from their base.

The history of the Yakut reindeer herders reached the Minister of Arctic Development and the Affairs of the North of Yakutia Vladimir Chernogradsky, who met with men in Yakutsk and supported them. They will be helped to return home.