In Siberia, people are left in complete isolation — the reason.

In the Russian region of Tofalaria, located in eastern Siberia, residents have found themselves virtually cut off from the 'mainland'. They can only be reached by helicopter, which in 2025 operates only one flight per week, primarily intended for tourists.

Russian media reported this.

Transport problems in Siberia

Infrastructure issues, particularly with transport, have led to part of the population in the Asian part of the Russian Federation being in effective isolation.

This specifically refers to the Irkutsk region, where an entire nation has been cut off from civilization. This concerns the Tofalar region in the Eastern Sayan mountain system. In this region lives a small indigenous people of Siberia - the Tofalars.

One flight a week

Getting from there to civilization, particularly to the regional capital Irkutsk (which is about 700 kilometers from Tofalaria), can only be done by helicopters. However, recently there have been very few operational helicopters on the routes from Tofalaria.

Local residents stated that only one helicopter remains on the route, which makes just one flight a week. Moreover, most of the 25 tickets for the flight are sold to tourists and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

As a reminder, we previously reported that large-scale fires broke out in Siberia, with entire villages catching fire. Additionally, we reported that in one of the Siberian cities, a bear was roaming the streets, which the National Guard could do nothing about.

The situation with transport infrastructure in the Tofalaria region in eastern Siberia is becoming increasingly critical, as the only access for local residents to the 'mainland' is through an extremely limited helicopter flight once a week. Currently, transport communication issues complicate the lives of the indigenous people of Tofalaria and hinder the movement of tourists and employees of various institutions.