"We want to live better": deputies from the Arkhangelsk region want to join Komi
Six deputies of the rural settlement Safronovskoye from the village Yarensk, appealed to the governor Arkhangelsk region to Alexander Tsybulsky with a request to consider the issue of transferring their territory to a neighboring region - Komi Republic.
"We're geographically very far from Arkhangelsk. It's quicker to get to Moscow by train than to the center of our region. The road <…> for several hundred kilometers is unpaved and of very poor condition during the muddy season." — the deputies write.
The letter notes that the problem with medical care in Yarensk has become particularly acute. Patients requiring hospitalization are transported for four to six hours along poorly maintained dirt roads and a pontoon bridge, instead of being transported to Syktyvkar in two to three hours along a paved road.
Furthermore, the deputies note that historical monuments are better preserved in Komi than in the Arkhangelsk Region. They cite as examples the demolition of a non-dangerous two-story wooden house from 1856, the designation of buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries as unsafe, and the inability to find funds for restoration.
The transition of municipal districts to municipal districts, which is happening in the region, as in other regions, will not solve the problems that the district administration has failed to address for years, according to deputies.
"We live so far from Arkhangelsk that even you <…> only visited Yarensk and the Lensky District <…> in 2020. The residents of our community desperately need solutions to many problems <…>. We want to develop the economy and social sphere, tourism and sports; preserve our historical heritage and protect nature. We want to live better." – the deputies wrote to the governor.
In response, they write in public "Clean Yarensk," threats rained down on deputies and residents of Yarensk in the media and on social networks. For example, "Echo of the North" called The petition was written by "saboteur deputies" and noted that if residents change their registration, they will lose their privileges and allowances.