The new president of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Russian Far East and member of the State Duma Government Committee on Nationalities, deputy Grigory Ledkov outlined his vision of priority measures for the development of a system to protect the interests of Native ethnic groups. He introduced proposals to this effect at a round table meeting with members of the Russian Parliament and Nordic countries and the Parliamentary Conference of the Baltic Sea in Syktyvkar on May 15th.

We remind our readers that Ledkov was elected the new President of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) at the Congress of Indigenous Peoples of Russia in Salekhard, on March 29th.

According to him, much is said today about the need to attract scientific solutions for socio-economic problems. “It is necessary to study the genetics of native peoples, their genetic features in terms of health, heredity and longevity. The compilation of genomes in the Far North has revealed that they have completely divergent ethnic backgrounds. Some are related to the Finno-Ugric group in the Northwest; others to the Tungus-Manchurians in the East,” he said. “It is likely that further scientific discoveries will be very useful to us. This is connected with ecology, biology and the climatic aspects of the lives of the indigenous peoples.”

Ledkov also recommended the use of ethno-genetic data taken from the results of a large study of Russian ethnic groups undertaken to study the hereditary features of indigenous peoples of Northern Europe and North America. The new president of the association considers the promotion of goods and services produced in the traditional activities of indigenous peoples of the North promising, given skillful marketing. “Maybe we will end up using certifications, and trading stamps for products of indigenous peoples, such as reindeer herding, fishing, souvenirs, and ethno-tourism… And the list goes on and on,” Ledkov said.

Later, at a press briefing, the President of RAIPON cited the example of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug’s brand “Yamal Reindeer,” produced in a local processing plant, which successfully exports reindeer meat to Western European markets. “In some places this is going better than others,” Ledkov noted.