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Russia backs idea of building international Arctic station on Yamal

The project meets the Russian president’s guideline towards using resource-saving technologies in the Arctic, supporting joint research by domestic and foreign scientists

MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. The Foreign Ministry of Russia backs the project of a year-round and fully autonomous international Arctic station on the Yamal Peninsula, Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large, Russia’s Senior Official in the Arctic Council Nikolai Korchunov said on Monday.

The project of building the international station called Snezhinka (Snowflake) is important from the viewpoint of ensuring the sustainable development of the Arctic region, the high-ranking Russian diplomat stressed.

"The Foreign Ministry of Russia supports a new international project prepared by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MFTI) to build a carbon-free Arctic station. It meets the Russian president’s guideline towards using resource-saving technologies in the Arctic, supporting joint research by domestic and foreign scientists into environmental problems, climate change, and pollution of the environment and the World Ocean that are common challenges to the global development," he commented at a press conference on the project’s presentation.

"This project is also important from the standpoint of ensuring the Arctic region’s sustainable development because this relates to sustainability science," the high-ranking Russian diplomat stressed.

This project, in particular, will "contribute to the transition to the platform of closed-cycle activity in the Arctic region," he stated.

The project of building the international station on the Yamal Peninsula will gain further significance because advanced scientific knowledge is quite in demand in the Arctic region and it will help create scientific infrastructure in the Arctic, Korchunov pointed out.

The project has received the backing of the region’s population and the authorities of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, according to the ambassador-at-large.

"We expect this project to also take into account the traditional knowledge and competences possessed by the indigenous peoples," Korchunov claimed.

Executive Director of the MFTI Arctic Technology Institute Yuri Vasilyev revealed earlier that there were plans to open the Snezhinka international Arctic station in 2022.