The Russian federal budget includes 1.15 billion RUB on the resettlement of families from Murmansk Oblast to more climatically-friendly areas in central Russia, Murman.ru reports. That is expected to be enough to cover about 500 families. In 2008, slightly more than 1 billion RUB was spent on the same regional resettlement programme. Then, 466 families were included. It is believed that a major number of people dismissed from jobs in the Northern Fleet will be included in this year’s resettlement. The population in Murmansk Oblast continues to shrink. While more than 1,1 million people lived in the region in the late 1980s, the regional population now totals less than 850,000.
