The 17th March 2019 is a traditional reindeer herders holiday in Numto, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia.
On this day the Russian oil company Surgutneftegaz and regional government representatives (Surgut district, Western Siberia) come to the village to announce that they have agreed on installing three more oil drilling wells in Numto.
This time the drilling location is on wetlands, 15 km from the sacred homonymous lake, in a territory where before it was prohibited to drill on. At the end of January the Russian oil company Surgutneftegas had a "public" hearing where only few people from Numto park were invited. The majority of Nenets and Khanty people were not consulted and a conflict escalated. They wrote an anonymous letter to the prosecutor office to state, declaring their firm opposition to oil drilling and that the industry had not consulted them.
A press team also travels up to the village to document the meeting between the government representatives, the oil company and the local indigenous people.
Access to the village is controlled by the oil company who formally owns all the privatized roads developed for drilling project infrastructure. People are finding it increasingly difficult to be able to tell their story to the press. They feel like living like prisoners surrounded by oil industry infrastructure roads.