In early June, Messoyakhaneftegaz together with Tazovsky district administration of YNAA hosted an ethno-festival titled 'Discover Your Yamal!'. The company's press service reported that employees had an opportunity to explore local culture, participate in national sports events and sample traditional local cuisine. This annual cultural-educational event aims to foster stronger bonds between Tazovsky district residents and company employees.

Yet these festivals are just part of broader initiatives. In May 2024, Messoyakhaneftegaz agreed with Tazovsky district administration to enhance local employment opportunities within the company; last year, they expanded their medical programme for reindeer herders. This programme is particularly popular before spring migrations when tundra residents come for their annual health check-ups. In February this year, RN-Purneftegaz, a subsidiary of Rosneft in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, announced the launch of a programme to prepare nomadic children for school. Rosneft has been funding various programmes for indigenous minorities in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area, Yugra, Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area for many years.

It appears that this is the standard for business relations with the interests of indigenous peoples. Extractive companies, by encroaching with their activities into the living spaces of local populations, compensate for environmental changes by investing in regional development and specifically in indigenous communities. Nevertheless, in 2024, Yamal decided to annually enhance support measures for indigenous minorities to meet the needs of the tundra inhabitants. This is the central issue in the complex relationship between indigenous peoples, the state and businesses: communication.

As Igor Sergeev, a Doctor of Economics, noted in 2021, businesses in the Russian Arctic have recognised the necessity of establishing long-term relationships with local indigenous communities to avoid numerous problems caused by conflicts with locals. However, merely allocating funds is insufficient. International experience indicates that subsidies and 'easy money' quickly foster dependency attitudes, leading to social issues, marginalisation of certain societal segments and conflicts. Assistance must be targeted, precise, and nuanced, requiring a deep understanding of community internal dynamics.

Dmitry Funk, a Doctor of Historical Sciences and long-time director of the IEA RAS, pointed out that only 13% of indigenous peoples fully engage in traditional economies. The rest exhibit pronounced seasonal returns to their roots, which are no less significant.

And these are just a few of the nuances encountered when working with indigenous peoples. In 2005, Dmitry Funk helped develop a specific set of guidelines for working with indigenous minorities for British Petroleum in Kamchatka. The company produced brochures detailing how to interact with indigenous peoples, outlining permissible actions and strict prohibitions. For example, is it permissible to bring a dog to a native campsite? These details are crucial in determining whether and how contact can be successfully established.

Moreover, local communities may not recognise their true needs or may confuse different concepts. For example, while traditional society members might delight in new mobile phones, radio stations would be more beneficial, and a new logistics centre would offer more advantages than a snowmobile dealership. A new cell phone may bring a lot of joy, but a radio station will be far more useful, and a new logistics centre will provide more benefits than a snowmobile sales showroom. The same goes for social initiatives. Finding out the real picture requires long and painstaking expeditionary work, which is only just beginning to take shape as a general trend. At the federal level, work is already underway on the formation of a unified standard for interaction between business and indigenous peoples, but it is still a long way off before the law is enacted. Unfortunately, however, regional regulations can often be implemented incompletely or ignored altogether, if the owner desires so. The absence of a federal regulatory framework allows too much room for local-level interpretations.

One solution to the communication issue has been comprehensive ethnological assessments. This approach was used when assessing the impact on the Sami from the development of the Kolmozersky lithium deposit in Murmansk Region. Initially, scientists thoroughly examined the region's environment and assessed the potential impact of constructing a mining complex before presenting their findings to indigenous communities and inquiring about their desired compensations. Governor of the Murmansk Region Andrey Chibis stated that the authorities had meticulously worked through all community concerns.

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