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Russia invites Latin American, Persian Gulf countries to work at Snezhinka station

Nikolay Korchunov drew attention of those countries' representatives to projects of the Rosatom state-run Corporation in small modular reactors

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Russia invites countries of Latin America and the Persian Gulf to work at the Snezhinka international scientific station in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, press office of the Russian Federation's chairing at the Arctic Council said following a meeting between the council's committee and ambassadors of those countries.

"Ambassador at Large for the Arctic Cooperation at Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Senior Arctic Official of the Russian Federation to the Arctic Council Nikolay Korchunov <…> has invited the countries of Latin America and the Persian Gulf to cooperation at the Snezhinka (Snowflake) international scientific research station in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, and also has drawn attention of those countries' representatives to projects of the Rosatom state-run Corporation in small modular reactors," the press office said.

According to the diplomat, the international attention towards the Arctic is only growing. This includes the climate changes - the warming processes in the Arctic develop four times quicker than elsewhere on the planet, thus offering new conditions for the Arctic navigation. Rosatom's special representative on the Arctic development Vladimir Panov at the meeting presented plans to develop the Northern Sea Route and the Russian icebreaker fleet.

"The current icebreaking fleet, which is operating in the Northern Sea Route waters, consists of seven nuclear-powered icebreakers and three non-nuclear ones. Two nuclear-powered icebreakers of Project 22220 - the Yakutia and the Chukotka - are being built. On February 2, Atomflot (Rosatom's nuclear fleet division) and the Baltic Plant signed a contract to build the fifth and sixth serial universal nuclear icebreakers of Project 22220. Between 2026 and 2030, the fleet will consist of nine nuclear and five non-nuclear icebreakers, and <...> between 2031 and 2035, the fleet will have 13 nuclear and five non-nuclear icebreakers," the press office quoted Rosatom's representative as saying.

The Snezhinka year-round international Arctic station will be powered by renewable energy sources and hydrogen without any diesel fuel. The station will be comprised of several dome-shaped buildings connected via passages. When observed from above, the station will resemble a snowflake, hence the name. The station's test commissioning is due in 2024.

About Arctic Council

The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental organization of the Arctic states. Its members are Russia, Denmark (together with Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Iceland, Canada, Norway, the USA, Finland and Sweden. In 2021, the year of the organization's 25th anniversary, the two-year chairmanship in it passed from Iceland to the Russian Federation, where the events' manager is the Roscongress Foundation. In 2022, the Council's all members, with the exception for Russia, issued a written statement refusing to participate in meetings under the Russian chairing and taking place in its territory due to the situation around Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that decision was politicized and irrational.