[7] The 2002 census data shows the population to consist of twenty-three males and ten females,[2] despite the fact that the village had been formally closed in 1999.

When the bride's family realised she was missing, they checked her room and found her disembodied head, which, apparently, was still sentient, and along with the other villagers gave chase.

Only the woman's head continued the chase, but when it arrived near the man's village, it, along with the wooden canoe, turned into stone on the shores of the mouth of the Baranikha River, close to the present day settlement.

[11] The present-day settlement was founded in 1960 following the discovery of gold and tin in the region, and a mine named "Twenty-second Congress of the CPSU" was established.

[4] The Russian government guaranteed funds to transport non-working pensioners and the unemployed in liquidated settlements including Baranikha from Chukotka to other parts of Russia.

Hot water is supplied to the apartments for only one to two hours a day, whilst the inside temperature is about seven degrees Celsius.Like many of the other settlements in the area which were founded by miners settling here, Baranikha's population has been declining steadily since tin production was reduced.