The majority of the 2,440,000 people living in Russia’s enormous Arctic zone are working-age men who are often do not remain there for long even with high wages because the conditions of life are so difficult, according to Anatoly Shirokov, deputy head of the Federation Council’s committee that oversees the region.

At the end of Soviet times, he continues, labor turnover in the region reached 30 to 35 percent; but since then, efforts by the government and private firms have........

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