Russia is preparing this season’s Arctic research expeditions to the floating ice base Barneo by the North Pole, Aviation Explorer reports. The first flight for the ice floe that has been elected for the base is planned to leave Norilsk on March 19.
Watch video from Barneo: Barneo – Russia’s Arctic Riviera
The ice base will in course of the season be visited by the country’s first persons, the web site writes.
At a meeting in Moscow yesterday on preparations for the next season of research on Barneo, Special Presidential Aide on Arctic and Antarctic Affairs Artur Chilingarov urged Mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov to establish a logistics base for the expeditions at Vnukovo, one of the three major airports in Moscow.
Mr. Luzhkov reacted positively to Mr. Chilingarov’s appeal, and ordered his people to start the necessary procedures immediately, Aviation Explorer writes.
Mr. Chilingarov also appealed to investors to contribute to the logistics base and to Russia’s other Arctic projects, since “this is Russia’s future”:
- The government is devoting the Arctic enormous significance, he said. As BarentsObserver reported, both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin this week have stressed the importance of the Arctic to Russia and defended Russia’s claims to the shipping-vital Arctic continental shelf.
