Irkutsk in the spotlight: the leak in Putin's watertight system?

Russia goes to the polls this weekend with the result locked down – a widely expected fourth presidential term for Vladimir Putin. Rigged electoral practices will almost certainly deliver the 70/70 (70% voting for Putin on a 70% attendance) scenario targeted by the Kremlin. But even Putin’s watertight system is capable of springing the odd leak – in 2015, the people of Irkutsk rejected his party United Russia and elected a communist official. Sergei Levchenko remains one of the country’s few regional governors not endorsed by the Kremlin. But whatever the dissatisfactions brewing in the east Siberian city of 600,000 people, his party will have to do well to repeat the result this year.

Invisible opposition

Irkutsk has a reputation for dissidence stretching back centuries. But its most recent flareup was less recalcitrance than a reaction to the indifference of the powers that be in Moscow. As Sergei, a 31-year-old freelancer born and raised in Irkutsk, explains of the 2015 vote: “Our city is not a priority for United Russia, so they don’t campaign as much here. And there’s also much less rigging.” Here it’s more viable for locals to vote as they like – Levchenko’s election was regarded as a reaction to United Russia’s complacency as much as the stagnant economy.

Don’t expect that to change anything. Sergei is unimpressed with Levchenko’s record since taking office and his lack of sway in persuading the government to invest more in an often overlooked corner of the country. “He’s technically in opposition, but it’s not a real opposition,” says Sergei. “They never criticise United Russia.”

Apathy reigns; only a few hundred people turned up to a November rally in Irkutsk organised by Alexei Navalny, leader of the “real” opposition. A severed pig’s head was left hanging from the doors of the furniture showroom where it took place. For good measure, the authorities jailed the showroom’s owner for five days afterwards.

Irkutsk in numbers

33% of Irkutsk inhabitants were reputed to be political exiles by the end of the 19th century.

5,185km – distance from Moscow on the Trans-Siberian railway.

25 million years – approximate age of nearby Lake Baikal, the oldest freshwater lake on the planet.

70km – distance from Lake Baikal, which makes the city one of the most popular Trans-Siberian stops.

History in 100 words

Eyeing up trade links with China, imperial Russia sent the Cossacks to establish a fort on the banks of the Angara river in 1661. The gold and fur trading enclave that grew there gained city status 25 years later. With the cross-Asiatic flow of goods spurred on by the first road to Moscow in 1760, and later the Trans-Siberian railway, it was the region’s largest settlement by the mid-19th century. The arrival of the Decembrists – reformist military officers who revolted against Nicholas I – bolstered the intellectual clout of the “Paris of Siberia”. With a cluster of research institutes, it has similar capital today – but the city is neglected and out on a limb, and its proximity to China could come into play once more.

Irkutsk in sound and vision

The leader of the anti-Bolshevik movement Alexander Kolchak was killed by firing squad in Irkutsk on 7 February 1920 – and given a blockbuster-style gussying up in this 2008 film.

Former Irkutsk dental student Nina Kraviz is one of the biggest techno DJs in the world.

Grand designs

Less subject to the rampant development seen in other Russian cities, Irkutsk is a good place to see old-style timber architecture. But it’s not necessarily all authentic. The showcase 130 Kvartal project, initiated in 2010, has transformed brownfield land in the centre into a throwback village with dinky dacha-style buildings – mostly transported from elsewhere or purpose-built from scratch. Commissioned after Irkutsk’s 350th anniversary celebrations in 2008, this heritage binge is now the centre of local nightlife, housing restaurants, bars, clubs and eastern Siberia’s main shopping mall.

A public-private collaboration, 130 Kvartal has also created 2,000 jobs, 10 times the predicted number. Its unexpected level of success has started to overhaul disdainful attitudes towards owning and living in buildings of a bygone era. But the current upscale atmosphere is out of reach for most Irkutsk residents. “I don’t think it’s regeneration, it’s just lots of expensive shops,” says Sergei. “It’s not for mere mortals.”

Key subculture

A digital-era goldrush is sweeping through Irkutsk, thanks to would-be bitcoin prospectors. They’re setting up server farms in warehouses and hangars to “mine” bitcoin – paid in exchange for performing complex blockchain calculations – aided by the city’s cheap rent and cool climate. An abundant supply of electricity from several nearby hydroelectric power plants is the other key factor – it costs 2.1 roubles (2p) per kWh here, as opposed to 5.3 roubles in Moscow.

The furniture seller of severed pig’s head fame is pioneering an underfloor heating system powered by the energy generated from his bitcoin servers. With the Russian parliament drafting laws to regulate this wild-east stampede, Sergei says the city’s blockchain pioneers don’t want to attract too much attention. “They’re trying to be under the radar, not brag too much. If I was a bitcoin millionaire, I wouldn’t tell anybody.”

What’s next for the city?

Chinese interest in the region is building, and it makes some people uneasy. Reportedly, as many as 80% of visitors to Irkutsk are Chinese, yet the immense tourist potential of Lake Baikal’s hundreds of kilometres of shoreline remains largely untapped. An $11bn Sino-Russian collaboration to develop the littoral has been announced, presumably under the umbrella of a special economic zone put in place until 2055.

Irkutsk needs this kind of stimulus, but it also plays into ingrained paranoia about Siberia being subsumed by China. Some locals are suspicious about how much they will benefit economically, or about the real intentions of the investors. “I’m very sceptical – I don’t think they’re interested in tourism. They’re planning to make chemical plants – not very ecological ones,” says Sergei. “Baikal is huge and it cleans itself, because of its microorganisms. It would be really hard to spoil it, but I think the Chinese can do it.” More than 50,000 people recently signed an online petition calling for a ban on Chinese land purchases.

Close zoom

The Novorsibirsk-based Siberian Times is the best source of regular English-language news about Irkutsk. This New York Times article is a deep dive into the aftermath of the 2016 mass-alcohol poisoning incident in which more than 70 people died.

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