A major part of the Combine 's workforce consisted of 75-85 thousand Beltbaltlag prisoners . In addition , the Combine included 21 " special settlements " ( '' spetsposyolok '' ) with some 30 thousand residents , mostly dispossessed farm families transported to Karelia from the USSR 's warmer regions . In addition to convicts and " special settlers " , the Combine employed about 4500 free employees and a paramilitary security force . In all , the Combine 's employees accounted for about 25 % of the population of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
dispossessed farm families
Dekulakization
White Sea–Baltic Canal