The Indigenous People of Komi Republic

Dmitrii Ivanov
Aug 23, 2017 · 1 min read
Village Shchelyabozh, photo by Dmitrii Ivanov

I’ve been on the north before, many times and I’ve seen endless tundra in snow and colors, raw, beautiful, truly new earth, left untouched and forgotten by people. But what I saw near city of Usinsk in Komi Republic left me truly speechless. Oil spills everywhere, pipelines, sludge collectors, power lines, construction sites, garbage and of course many stations of oil refinery…

Oil spill near Usinsk, photo by Dmitrii Ivanov

To me oil spills seems like as if the earth bleeds out, contaminating everything on it’s way. Photos cannot express it nor the words. You have to see it, to know it. Yes in time the earth will heal, but animals will die, nature will suffer, but the Indigenous people will lose everything. Their home, their land, their native life and what’s more important their future. The people that I’ve met in Kushshor, Novikbozh and Shchelyabozh will lose their future and that’s what bugs me…

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