Skolts
Säʹmmla Nuõrttsääʹm | |
|---|---|
Drawing of Russian Skolt Sami from 1871 | |
| Total population | |
| c. 1,250 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Finland | 500–700 |
| Russia | 250–400 |
| Norway | 150 |
| Languages | |
| Skolt Sámi, Finnish, Russian and Norwegian | |
| Religion | |
| Eastern Orthodox majority Lutheran minority | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Sámi | |
The Skolt Sámi or Skolts are a Sámi ethnic group. They currently live in and around the villages of Sevettijärvi, Keväjärvi, Nellim in the municipality of Inari, at several places in the Murmansk Oblast and in the village of Neiden in Sør-Varanger Municipality. The Skolts are considered to be the indigenous people of the borderland area between present-day Finland, Russia and Norway, i.e. on the Kola Peninsula and the adjacent Fenno-Scandinavian mainland. They belong to the eastern group of Sámi on account of their language and traditions, and are traditionally Orthodox rather than Lutheran Christians like most Sámi and Finns.
In 2024, Venke Törmänen, the leader of an NGO called Norrõs Skoltesamene, appeared in Ságat, a Sámi newspaper, saying "Eastern Sámi" should not be used to refer to the Skolt Sámi.