MOSCOW: From the Chechen war zone through the wilderness of Siberia to the International Space Station — Russians this week will try to overcome their mistrust of the authorities and take part in the first nationwide census since 1989.

Under the slogan “Write yourself into the history of Russia”, the process gently began in the summer in remote regions of this vast country of about 143 million people before the main thrust on October 9-16.

One of Russia’s most respected figures, Orthodox Church leader Alexy II, pitched in to help overcome public reluctance to confide, saying people “should not view the census as a sign of the end of the world and an apocalyptic manifestation”.

President Vladimir Putin also did his bit, stressing that the undertaking “demands the utmost correctness and tact, above all by representatives of the state”.

Believe the opinion polls, and a suspiciously high 90 per cent of Russians will gladly cooperate when the 600,000-strong army of census staff, mainly students, goes into action this Wednesday.

But almost half of the respondents in one such survey added that they will probably not give honest answers, with as many again saying they expected their data to get passed on to the dreaded tax man.

To calm the fears, officials of the state statistics committee Goskomstat, which is running the census, assured there will be no questions about the amount of income, just its general source.

Other questions naturally cover, age, sex, family status, living conditions, nationality, but, curiously, not religion.

Setting the ball rolling in areas that will soon be snowed in, the first 500 citizens — including 100 people contacted by radio — were reached in June in settlements in the Magadan region of the Far East.

About 150,000 more isolated dwellers will be covered before the big kick-off, and it appears no effort has been spared.

On the Kola Peninsular in the far north, officials were to use a light aircraft and a boat to visit the village of Pyalitsa, where only four people were believed to live.

Two questionnaires were even sent up on a cargo ship to the International Space Station for cosmonauts Valery Korzun and Sergei Treshchev.

But the deputy head of Goskomstat, Vladimir Kolesnikov, proudly points out that the whole operation requires only 4.2 billion roubles (about $133 million) of state funds and cost less than a dollar per person, compared to $32 per head in the United States.

It’s a noble task. As armed conflict, bad ecology, poverty, stress, poor diets, and excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption take a withering toll on the population in the post-Soviet era, it’s hoped the census will help plot the course for a national revival.—dpa