In Russia, the Chukchi are known as folk characters — the heroes of jokes about naive natives. In reality, this is a nation of brave hunters and reindeer herders, freedom-loving people whom the tsarist forces have unsuccessfully tried to conquer for more than a hundred years.

Where guns were powerless, alcohol and Soviet forced education in orphanages played a fatal role. Now the Chukchi nation is on the verge of extinction. This is not even assimilation, since they do not become Russian. Loss of language and culture leads to alcoholism and untimely death.

This process is slowed down in the communities engaged in traditional activities — such as hunting for sea animals — seals, walruses and whales. To minimize negative impact on the environment, it is regulated by Russian norms and international agreements — for example, residents of 14 Chukchi villages are allowed to catch a total of 140 gray whales per year. Hunters use modern boats, but the principle of the hunt and the construction of the harpoon have remained almost unchanged for more than two thousand years. Sometimes community members fall in icy water and die. But this hunt is the only way to supply fellow villagers with fresh meat.