Revival of Deserted Villages Starts in Volga Area

Deserted villages are being revived in the Novgorod region, the Volga area.

The Novgorod regional administration told RIA Novosti on Tuesday that in the past two years 6 villages which were removed from the map in the 1990s had been revived in the region.

Deputies of the Novgorod regional Duma have submitted decisions for approval to the Russian government on the registration of the "re-emerged villages" of Baranikha, Lakhnovo, Novoye Kunino and Yuryevo in the region's Novgorod district and the village of Dolmanovo in the Okulovsky district.

In addition, the village of Dubrovka has been revived in the Krestetsky district of the Novgorod region.

The regional administration reported that Dubrovka became the region's first settlement with the official status of khutor, which is unusual for Russia's Northwest.

The family of Gennady Gudkovsky and Elita Ritinya and their three children set up the first khutor on 12.6 hectares of their agricultural land.

According to the administration, the revival of the first 6 villages was brought about by the arrival of town residents and migration.

The revival of the region's deserted villages, the administration said, has just been launched.

The number of villages the authorities are forced "to remove from the register of settlements" has so far exceeded the number of "re-emerging" ones.