Hundreds of Villages in Russian Regions Disappearing, Never to Return, ‘Federal Press’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 2 – Hundreds of villages and settlements of an urban type in predominantly ethnic Russian regions have disappeared after their last residents die or move to urban areas, but despite Moscow’s promises to help, none of them recover. Instead, entirely new villages occasionally appear, places completely different from those they replace.

            The Federal Press portal draws these conclusions on the basis of a study of what has been happening in Kirov Oblast, more than 90 percent of whose residents are ethnic Russians, and suggests that what is true in Kirov Oblast is true in other predominantly ethnic Russian federal subjects (fedpress.ru/article/3392928).

            Like all federal subjects, Kirov Oblast maintains an official list of all places of human habitation. Since 2000, 668 of these have disappeared after their last residents died or moved away. Not one of these villages or even towns outside of cities has recovered, even though ten new rural settlements have appeared.

            What is most significant about these ten is that none of them resembles the villages which have died and therefore none of them is likely to have the social or demographic consequences that some Moscow and oblast officials who talk about them regularly claim. In fact, most are small “company towns” which have emerged around some agro-industry instead.