Around 2,600 applications were received in the first week for the free Arctic hectare.

This means that the land is in demand, RIA Novosti news agency quoted the Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev as saying.

At the end of June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law extending the Far Eastern Hectare programme to the Russian Arctic Zone. Residents of the area can take part in the Arctic Hectare programme starting from August 1 and receive land for personal or business use free of charge. All Russian citizens, as well as participants of the state programme for the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad, will be able to take part in the programme from 1 February 2022.

'In the first week, we received 2,600 applications, not bad at all for a start. This means that the land is in demand, people want to live in the Arctic Zone, in the Far East, they want to devote their labour to securing their future. It's a good story,' the Envoy told the Vladivostok state TV and radio company