ST. PETERSBURG, September 7. /TASS/. Russia within three years will set a network of 140 stations to study the permafrost in the Arctic. The project’s cost is about 1.7 billion rubles ($23 million), Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov told reporters on Tuesday.

"We plan to set within three years a network of 140 stations, which will monitor the permafrost," the minister said. "Those would be 30-meter wells with installed equipment to conduct the monitoring. The equipment is made in Russia. The project’s cost is about 1.7 billion [rubles] for three years to make this network."

The ministry suggested Roshydromet (hydro-meteorology service) would manage the project’s implementation.