There are 22 small indigenous peoples living in the Russian Far East. Their total population does not exceed 60 thousand people.

During the Soviet era, the culture of the small indigenous peoples was considered "primitive" and "backward". The main goal of Soviet policy towards these peoples was their integration into the socialist society. Any manifestation of national self-awareness, a desire to preserve their native language and traditions was met with suspicion and resistance by the Soviet system.

During the period of collectivization, the small indigenous peoples were forced to work on collective farms. Children were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools. Only Russian was allowed to be spoken in schools and at work; speaking the native language was punished by fines and different kinds of punishments. The main occupations (fishing, reindeer herding and gathering) were transferred from individual to collective labor. After the collapse of the USSR, the languages ​​of many indigenous peoples were almost completely lost. The knowledge of traditional fishing methods was also completely wiped out.

Now the endangered peoples are trying to preserve what is left. Some schools have native language lessons as an elective. Some clubs where children are taught folk dances, songs, and sewing traditional clothes are organized. But all this is not enough, because the elders, the only keepers of folk wisdom, die and do not have time to pass on the most important knowledge. Young people are not ready to return to the traditional way of life, to do reindeer herding or go fishing. They want to live a modern life and master relevant professions, earn a decent income and live in big cities, but not in villages where there is no work to do at all or it is poorly paid. Thus, the remains of the cultural traditions of the disappearing ethnic groups are finally "washed away".

The Russian Far East is being actively developed by large coal, oil and gas companies, which are taking away natural resources and leaving behind empty lands and water bodies polluted with waste. Disappearing people, left to their own devices, are trying to fight for the right to preserve their identity in the conditions of economic and environmental crisis.