Rebecca’s Reporter’s Notebook #1: Because, It Because (Or, Why I’m Not Going to Siberia)

Photo Credit: Rebecca Hersher

By Rebecca Hersher

When this journey began, I intended to report from the Russian region of Chukotka.

I’d like to think I wasn’t naïve, but I most certainly was. I’d heard getting into the Russian region of Chukotka was complicated. I imagined that meant some extra paperwork, maybe some tactful appeals to mid-level bureaucrats and a handful of Official Letters on Official Letterhead with Official Signatures.

I hired a fixer right away, a hard-charging Crimean woman named Zhenya, who had a no-nonsense approach to Russian bureaucracy, perhaps because she and everyone else in her region became Russian citizens overnight. She assured me that, although my request was a difficult one, she felt confident we could get the necessary permits. A local fixer echoed her optimism. You SHOULD get accreditation to work in Russia he wrote.

I could fill pages and pages with the logistics of the six weeks that followed. In fact, I have. I’ll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that, three weeks in, Zhenya began an email this way: I understand that I understand nothing.

I am still applying for an entry permit. A scientist I spoke to, who travels to Chukotka every summer, said she expected her team’s permit application to take at least six months this time around. These days — with Cold War-era military bases reopening in the Arctic and fear of western criticism heightened — the bureaucratic labyrinth is more tangled than ever.

I’ll leave you with an exchange that, in retrospect, sums up the kindness, the pride, and the inscrutability of Chukotka from afar.

It comes from a man named Nicolay, a local Yupik hunter and friend of some former Red Cross folks in the region. I had written Nicolay with a long list of questions and ended with a plea for his expertise and help with my permit. His response was brief, and I share it in its entirety.

Hi, Rebecca.
We live in a rule: your friend is a my friend. If my friend Edward recommend I do that.
Because, it because.
Best regards,
Nicolay

So, I’m not going to Chukotka this winter. Because, it because. But I will be reporting on the problem of suicide and depression in the Arctic. I’ll be in Ittoqqortoormiit and Nuuk, Greenland. No visa required. —RH