They cannot go elsewhere, because there are neither jobs nor housing to be found. Dilapidated residential buildings in Zapolyarnyi. Many of the dwellings are empty. During the Soviet era, people were sent to work here for a few weeks at a time. The incentive was high wages.
Incomes remain high by Russian standards.
Workers in Petsamo earn about 4,000 roubles a month, four times the national average. On the other hand, the company that now owns the Petsamo operations, Norilsk Nikel, has failed to pay taxes to the State. Nor has it invested in new equipment to reduce the harm that the environment is suffering. Norilsk Nikel is one of the world's largest producers of nickel. How it passed into the ownership of Onexim Bank is one of the shadiest chapters in the history of Russian privatisation and insider dealing.