Photos: As Russia heads to polls, voting starts early for Siberian nomadic herders

Russia is headed for a presidential election on Sunday where incumbent Vladimir Putin is expected to bag an easy 4th term. But voting has already begun in the flat, snow-covered expanses of the Siberian Arctic, home to the nomadic Nenets people who herd reindeer. The area has no roads but politics reaches it anyway, thanks to a helicopter and a handful of ballot boxes. Since late February, 282 members of the Nenets, as well as some oil industry workers, have cast ballots.

Updated on: Mar 16, 2018 1:03 PM IST

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Members the Yamb To (Long Lake) community take part in early voting, at a reindeer camping ground in Nenets Autonomous District, Russia. Russia will hold a presidential election on Sunday but voting in the flat, snow-covered expanses of the Siberian Arctic, home to the nomadic Nenets people, has been underway since late February. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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People are seen near a yurt tent at a reindeer camping ground somewhere in the Nenets Autonomous District. Kremlin politics and Moscow’s six-lane motorways feel a world away in the Nenets Autonomous Region, 1,570 km northeast of the capital, where temperatures can drop to -40 degrees Celsius. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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Yamb To children run to a helicopter carrying local electoral commission officials ahead of the presidential election. The area has no roads but politics reaches it anyway, thanks to Maria Uglovaya, her helicopter and a handful of ballot boxes. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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A few months ago, election officials met with the head of one of the communities and fixed where the herds would be during these two weeks. Officials then flew 400 km to meet them. If the coordinates had been even a few points off or the weather unncertain, meeting in the snowy flats would have been impossible. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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Members of Nenets communities only visit the local capital, the small town of Naryan Mar, to renew passports and bring pregnant women to the maternity ward, said Uglovaya who also lives in the town. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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Strangers, especially ones with ballot boxes, are a rare event and the atmosphere in the tent was festive, even though the outcome of the election is not seriously in doubt. President Vladimir Putin is expected to win a fourth term in office. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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Yamb To community members scan a broadsheet with information about presidential candidates. “Who the president is has an impact on us, yes,” said a member of the community, Elena Tuleeva, 39. “If there are some laws there, they reach us too.” Tuleeva, who has always voted for Putin, said she knew several candidates in the race as she’d seen them on television. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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The Siberian wilderness keeps residents of Nenets communities insulated. News reaches sporadically, only if the weather is good, when a satellite dish is mounted on a sleigh to make it easier to move when looking for the signal. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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For people here, environmental issues are where the government has the most direct impact on daily life. Of immediate concern are the oil fields drilling around what little pasture ground the nomads have for their reindeer herds. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)

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The visiting election officials agree with these concerns. “The Nenets, they see themselves as part of the earth, as part of the land ... That’s why, even if they’re so far-removed, they vote,” said Uglovaya, deputy head of the regional election commission. (Sergei Karpukhin / REUTERS)