Documenting the Hard Life in Russia’s Frozen Arctic

2 minute read

The Soviet Union was known for its doublespeak, but when Moscow bureaucrats called the 7,000-km area of the Russian Arctic the “zone of absolute discomfort,” they were speaking the truth. Temperatures in the settlements of the far north, which spans from Alaska to Finland, can dip below –45°C in the winter. Living conditions are wretched, which is one reason Stalin used these towns as gulags. Descendants of some of the prisoners still live in these Arctic communities. Among the people who seem adapted to the conditions are the indigenous herders known as Nenets, who live in tents called chums.

Yet there are billions of tons of oil and natural gas locked beneath the permafrost—a fact that has drawn a new wave of workers to the Arctic, as the photographer Justin Jin documents. It’s not an easy place to work as a photographer—Jin once got frostbite from the cold metal of his camera pressed against his face—but the material is worth it. “The Arctic is like a blank sheet on which you could see all the tensions of Russia played out,” says Jin, who has worked in Russia for years. “You have the extreme expanse of space, the endless nature, the riches trapped in the tundra. It’s all the contradictions and juxtapositions of Russia.”

Justin Jin is a documentary photographer based in Belgium.

Bryan Walsh is TIME’s Foreign Editor.

A colony of tents, or "chums", belonging to Nenets herders stand in the Arctic tundra in the Russian Nenets Autonomous Region. The  indigenous people of the Russian Arctic, their culture eroded under Soviet collectivization and now their land is endangered due to modern oil and gas exploration, February 2011.
A colony of tents, or "chums", belonging to Nenets herders stand in the Arctic tundra in the Russian Nenets Autonomous Region. The culture of the indigenous people of the Russian Arctic eroded under Soviet collectivization and now their land is endangered due to modern oil and gas exploration, February 2011.Justin Jin
Nenets, native people of the Russian Arctic region, herd reindeer in -40C (-40F) Displaced during the Stalin years of Soviet collectivization, now modern gas and oil exploration threaten their land. The herders sell reindeer meat to sausage factories and antlers to China for use as traditional medicine, February 2011.
Nenets, native people of the Russian Arctic region, herd reindeer in -40C (-40F). The herders sell reindeer meat to sausage factories and antlers to China for use as traditional medicine, February 2011.Justin Jin
Mass exodus from Arctic Russia
Reindeer herder Simyon travels by sled from his chum towards Vorkuta to buy supplies. Construction of gas pipelines and industrial complexes forces them to travel further afield in search of pastures, January 2009.Justin Jin
Car passes heating plant in Russian Arctic city
A car drives past a water-heating plant in Naryan-Mar, capital of the resource-rich Nenets Autonomous Region in Arctic Russia, where many of the oil and gas exploration companies have their local headquarters, February 2011. Justin Jin
The flaring of gas is seen overhead at a drilling well in Novy Urengoi, Arctic Siberia, Russia, December 2014.
A gas flare is seen overhead at a drilling well in Novy Urengoi, Arctic Siberia, Russia, December 2014.Justin Jin
Driver of Arctic all-terrain vehical
Andrei, a tank driver for an oil and gas prospecting company. Russian oil workers typically spend the entire winter in the cold, isolated Arctic tundra, only returning to civilization in the spring, February 2012.Justin Jin
A Russian worker at a drilling well in Yamal, Arctic Siberia, Russia, which has the world's largest gas deposit.
A Russian worker at a drilling well in Yamal, Arctic Siberia, Russia, which has the world's largest gas deposit, December 2014.Justin Jin
The Portovaya compressor station where Russian gas is compressed before it is piped across the Baltic Sea bed to supply energy to Europe. With sanctions over Russia's incursion into Ukraine and tumbling world energy prices, Russia’s economy has slowed, November 2014
The Portovaya compressor station where Russian gas is condensed before it is piped across the Baltic Sea bed to supply energy to Europe. With sanctions over Russia's incursion into Ukraine and tumbling world energy prices, Russia’s economy has slowed, November 2014.Justin Jin
Workers test a gas drilling site in Arctic Russia
A gas drilling facility at the Kumzhinskoe gas field located in the delta of Pechora River in the Nenets Autonomous Region, said by environmentalists to be disaster-prone, February 2011.Justin Jin
. A Russian gas worker sprays steam to unfreeze pipes in Novy Urengoi, Arctic Siberia, Russia, December 2014.
A Russian gas worker sprays steam to unfreeze pipes in Novy Urengoi, Arctic Siberia, Russia, December 2014.Justin Jin
A worker rubs snow during sauna at Arctic gas prospecting site
A Russian oil worker rubs himself with snow outside a mobile sauna in the Arctic tundra. The water is heated by a diesel tank, February 2012.Justin Jin
World’s largest gas field found near derelict Arctic Russian village
Sunken boats and abandoned houses lay rotting by an icy bay in Teriberka, a former prosperous fish-processing community waiting for an economic boom through gas production, February 2012. Justin Jin
Miner walks past boarded-up apartment block outside Arctic city
Yorshor, an abandoned village near Vorkuta, which most people left after the closure of the Soviet-era coal mine, February 2008.Justin Jin
Mass exodus from Arctic Russia
Karp Belgayev, a coal miner, walks through Yorshor, an abandoned village near Vorkuta where he is among the last ten inhabitants. Miners say that after ten years working underground and poor washing, it is impossible to remove black rings from around the eyes, January 2009.Justin Jin
Mass exodus from Arctic Russia
Valery, a married miner and union representative in Severny village outside Vorkuta, dances with his lover Lena, while his friend Alexander watches jealously. Justin Jin
Fighter jet monument sits above Russian Arctic city
A WWII monument stands above Murmansk, the world's largest Arctic city and a vital industrial and shipping hub. The city became an important military base during the Cold War with Finland and Norway just across the border, March 2010.Justin Jin

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