INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND EXTRACTIVE COMPANIES: THE CASE OF THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC

The purpose of the article is to analyze the implementation ofbenefit-sharing agreements between indigenous communities andresource (oil, gas and mining) companies operating in different Arcticregions in Russia. While different regional legislation and regulatoryframeworks, path-dependent practices and company policies resulted ina broad-spectrum of negotiated arrangements, the study shows that inreality, where resource extraction is prioritized, indigenous voices areoften ignored. In Russia’s illiberal context, indigenous communities areengaged in an uphill battle with extractive companies whose capacityand expertise in negotiation process is far more extensive. By and large,extractive industries in Russian Arctic inspired by new possibilities inextracting natural resources appear to be ill-prepared to benefit-sharingcommitments. The paper concludes that in the context of the RussianNorth, agreements with resource (oil, gas and mining) are entitled tosugar-coat the uneven landscape of indigenous right