Murmansk Okrug

[2] The okrug was not contiguous with the rest of Leningrad Oblast and was separated from it by the territory of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

[1] On May 30, 1927, the provision was extended to cover the Lapps (Sami) and the Samoyeds of Murmansk Governorate, allowing them to create special ethnic-based organs of the local self-government.

[1] On October 11, 1928, the Presidium of the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee decreed to establish thirteen ethnic Sami soviets:[1] On October 25, 1928, the list was reviewed by the Selsoviet Review Commission of the Organizational Department of Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee.

[1] Vostochno-Laplandsky District was approved as proposed, with the exception of the village of Ponoy, which would be incorporated into a separate selsoviet with its own budget as its population was predominantly Russian.

[1] The proposal for creation of Zapadno-Laplandsky District, on the other hand, was declined and returned to the Committee of the North as needing a revision.

[1] The proposal was considered by the commission on the matters of administrative division of the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee in May 1932.

[1] The creation of Zapadno-Saamsky District was not recommended due to the fact that only 8.8% of the Sami people lived in the western parts of the okrug.

[1] Additionally, the commission took into consideration the rapid growth of mining industry in the Khibiny Massif and the planned expansion to the areas surrounding Lake Imandra, and recommended to create a district with mining specialization on the part of the territory of Kolsko-Loparsky District (Kukisvumchorrsky Settlement Council, Ekostrovsky Selsoviet, and the settlements of Apatity and Zasheyek), with the administrative center in Khibinogorsk.

[1] Furthermore, a chemical plant in Kandalaksha, being under construction at the time, was ultimately to use the apatite mined in the Khibiny Massif, which again was inconvenient from the economic point of view.

[4] On April 28, 1934, the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee meeting considered the redistricting proposal and discussed the inclusion of various inhabited localities into the new districts.

[1] On February 15, 1935, the VTsIK approved the redistricting of the okrug into seven districts: Kirovsky, Kolsko-Loparsky, Lovozersky, Polyarny, Ponoysky, Teribersky, and Tersky.

[1] On December 21, 1937, the Presidium of the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee again petitioned to create a new district with the administrative center in Monchegorsk.

[1] In a letter to the Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee and the VTsIK, the Presidium noted that Kirovsky District has two developed but unrelated industrial centers—Kirovsk and Monchegorsk—with the latter having a larger population and being located 111 kilometers (69 mi) away from the former.

[1] This unresolved problem was one of the reasons for the proposals to include the whole Kandalakshskaya Volost (which later became Kandalakshsky District) into the territory of the okrug.

[1] On February 10, 1931, the Presidium of the VTsIK reviewed the matter and ruled to leave Murmansk Okrug "within existing borders".

[1] However, during the April 12, 1931 meeting of the representatives of Murmansk Okrug and the Karelian ASSR it turned out that each side has a different understanding of what the "existing borders" are supposed to be.

[1] The Murmansk Okrug representative declared that the VTsIK resolution refers to the southern border of former Alexandrovsky Uyezd, which was transformed into Murmansk Governorate in June 1931, while the Karelian representative was convinced that the resolution gives official status to the border shown on the official NKVD map of the Karelian ASSR.

[1] The Presidium of the Murmansk Okrug Executive Committee issued two resolutions—one on April 13, 1931 and another on July 23, 1932—explaining its position and petitioned several times to review the borders once again, but the administrative commission of the Leningrad Oblast Executive Committee in its letter of October 11, 1932 declared that there will be no further review of the border situation.

[1] After the resolution had been published, it was pointed out that Zasheyek is simultaneously listed in Kirovsky District of Murmansk Okrug and in the Karelian ASSR.

[1] The joint meeting of the representatives of Murmansk Okrug and Karelia, which took place on April 15, 1936, was unable to resolve the situation.

[1] On June 8, 1936, the Presidium of the Karelian ASSR Central Executive Committee approved the transfer of the station of Zasheyek of the Kirov Railway and of the settlement of Verkhny Nivastroy (also known as Zasheyek) from Kandalakshsky District of the Karelian ASSR to Murmansk Okrug; the border would still remain unchanged.

[1] When a transfer act for the work settlement of Zasheyek was being compiled on May 5, 1937, the Murmansk Okrug representatives demanded that the settlements of Lesozavoda, lesouchastka Vostochnaya Guba, and Verkhny Nivastroy, as well as the station of Zasheyek of the Kirov Railway, were also transferred to Murmansk Okrug.

[1] Furthermore, the Presidium refused to approve the conciliatory commission's findings and petitioned to rescind the VTsIK's resolution of April 1, 1937 and to officially document the border between Murmansk Okrug and the Karelian ASSR.