Andrey represents the Sami people who live in the Kola Peninsula. He joined the Saami movement in 2003. This year Andrey became a member of the Saami Association of the Murmansk Region, and later he organized an organization’s unit in Monchegorsk. In 2007 he became one of the founders of the Sami national cultural autonomy in Monchegorsk. In 2008, he was elected to the Council of the Sámi Representatives of the Murmansk region (the Sámi Parliament of the Kola Peninsula) at the First Congress of the Sámi People. Since 2011 he has worked as a director of the Sámi Heritage and Development Fund. From 2013 to 2017, he was a member of the international indigenous organization Saami Council, where he was vice president. In 2022, due to repressions from the Russian security service FSB, he was forced to move to Norway, where he sought political asylum.
International Committee
of Indigenous Peoples of Russia