MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry has fulfilled by more than 90% the current year's plan of cleaning the Arctic, Deputy Defense Minister Army General Dmitry Bulgakov said on Friday.
"Units of the ecology cleaning of the Northern Fleet, Central and Eastern Military Districts and the 12th Main Department of the Defense Ministry have fulfilled the 2017 plan of the Arctic's cleaning by more than 90%," he said. "They have collected more than 3,900 tonnes of scrap metal. On the Kotelny Island, they collected 14,800 metal barrels, weighting 600 tonnes - this is 100% of the plan, and now the ecology cleaning platoon of the Northern Fleet is pressing the collected barrels. This year, the platoons are to collect in the Arctic more than 4,400 tonnes of scrap metal."
The service and transport vessels, involved in the winter supplies to the North, evacuated from the Arctic islands more than 2,300 tonnes of scrap metal, where the planned amount for the current year is more than 3,700 tonnes, he said.
Besides collecting scrap metal, he continued, the military units continue demolishing outdated and old buildings, restore the soils at territories of the Defense Ministry. In 2017, the military are involved in the cleaning on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the Novosibirsk Islands, and at other areas in the region. The works feature 186 servicemen, dozens vehicles and support vessels.
The winter supplies to the North is an annual complex of measures to provide territories of the Extreme North in Siberia and the Far East, in the European part of Russia with vital goods (first of all food and fuel) before the winter season. The deliveries are done by air, sea, river and roads depending on the region.