NORTH POLE-2015 ARCTIC STATION, April 19 /TASS/. Russia should exert every effort to come to the Arctic and conquer the Russia-controlled part, Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin said opening the North Pole-2015 drifting Arctic station.
"There are many problems here which have been unsolved for decades. They were not solved in Soviet, the pre-Soviet period or in contemporary Russia," Rogozin said adding that time had come for Russia to come to the Arctic and conquer it. "At least the part which is in our area of responsibility," Rogozin stressed.
What he meant was the development of the Northern Sea Route, science and Russian polar stations; and also the development of history made by famous Russian sailors, pilots and polar explorers. Rogozin said that early this year Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to create a state commission for Arctic development. "This fact shows that the country’s top leadership, the president and the government are paying special attention to the region’s development and the strengthening of our country’s positions in the area," the vice-premier went on to say.
Rogozin also noted that it was important for him to know what equipment the polar explorers used in their work; what their needs were and what should be done to expand the resource of Russian polar stations so that Russia could really gain a strong foothold in the Arctic region. "Someone may like that or not but it’s their problems. The most important thing for us should be that we like it and that it is useful for our country," Rogozin said in conclusion.
The North Pole -2015 drifting station will function for several months, scientists said. Artur Chilingarov, the Russian president’s special representative for international cooperation in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The station’s opening marks the revival of Russia’s programme of drifting stations that was suspended in the summer of 2013 after the North Pole-40 Russian drifting station had been evacuated.
The world’s first drifting station North Pole-1 was officially opened 20 kilometers away off the North Pole on June 6, 1937. The expedition headed by well-known polar explorer Ivan Papanin lasted for 9 months. The ice floe covered more than 2,000 kilometers.
Until last year, the Barneo drifting base had opened in the Arctic annually. It operated on the 89th degree of north latitude approximately 100 kilometers off the North Pole.