In 2011 the Russian Ministry for Natural Resources organized an expedition to the islands to evaluate the amount of waste that needs to be brought out of the area and to draw up a map over the locations of the waste.
About 250 thousand barrels of oil products, as well as the about one million empty barrels, and old military equipment like cars, aircrafts, radar installations and more are left rusting in the area, posing a serious environmental threat to the local Arctic environment.
“We need a licensed organization that can organize an extensive cleanup of the islands”, says Director of the Russian Arctic National Park Roman Yershov to RIA Novosti. “The tender is open and both Russian and foreign companies can take part in it”, he adds.
Russian authorities in 2009 decided to establish the “Russkaya Arktika” national park, which includes the northern parts of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, as well as the Franz Josef Land and adjacent waters.
