TASS, August 31. A military ecology unit of the north-eastern forces began cleaning the Wrangel Island, the Pacific Fleet’s press service reported on Monday.

"An ecology unit of the forces in Russia’s north-east has begun cleaning the Wrangel Island from waste and outdated equipment," the press service said. "Yesterday (August 29), the ecology platoon’s military came onboard the Andrei Stepanov sea tug from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the Wrangel Island in the Arctic zone. In compliance with an order by the Defense Ministry, in 2021 the forces continue cleaning the Wrangel Island to transport all the collected waste onboard military vessels for further processing."

Within the current navigation, more than 50 military will work on the island. They will use ten items of special equipment and vehicles, including a bulldozer, modern cranes with lifting capacities of 25 and 40 tonnes, KAMAZ scrap metal trucks with manipulator cranes, dump trucks, tracked conveyors, a tanker and bagging presses. During the expedition, the military will deliver supplies for the Pacific Fleet’s units in far-away locations.

In 2020, the Eastern Military District’s ecologists collected on the Wrangel Island and prepared for transportation to the mainland about 150 tonnes of scrap metal. They worked near Somnitelnaya Bay (the Zvezdny airfield). More than 45 servicemen used about ten items of special equipment and vehicles.

The Wrangel Island is not permanently populated, and the temporary population are meteorologists, staff of the nature reserve and the military. The Eastern Military District’s ecology unit cleans the Wrangel Island, which is a part of the nature reserve, from waste and metal barrels, which remain there after work of the military, polar stations and research bases.