Severny Orlyonok is frozen: Karelian authorities have halted construction of the all-Russian children's camp.
Talk about an ambitious project were led since 2020, when the head of the republic Artur Parfenchikov proposed Vladimir Putin build in Karelia a large children's camp similar to Artek.
For several years, officials claimed that Severny Orlyonok would be able to accommodate more than 7 children per year. In winter, it was supposed to be transformed into a ski resort, and in summer, a center for rock climbing and river rafting enthusiasts.
A few days before the war began, the Minister of Education of Karelia Roman Golubev claimedthat a picturesque location in the village has already been selected for the camp Spasskaya Guba, and the project's cost is estimated at 5 billion rubles. The minister acknowledged difficulties raising funds, but hoped to attract private investors.
At the same time, he noted that the republic lacks year-round recreation facilities for children: most camps were built 60-70 years ago.
Now the Ministry of Education of Karelia заявило, which "considers it appropriate to freeze the investment project to build a year-round all-Russian children's center in the republic until better times." According to officials, the budget lacks funds not only for the camp's construction but also for its continued operation—approximately 780 million rubles per year.
At the end of December Parfenchikov confessed, who gave “his last 50 million” to combat the consequences of the snowfall in Petrozavodsk, which will make it impossible to “help certain categories of our citizens.”
Last year, officials paid themselves 122 million rubles in secret bonuses: the money was recorded in documents marked "for official use only" and described as "for achieving performance indicators."