MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. Servicemen of the Russian Defense Ministry have begun "'ecological clean-up" on Arctic territories, where military formations are stationed, Deputy defense minister General Dmitry Bulgakov said on Monday. More than 170 servicemen have been involved in clean-up of the contaminated territories, he said.

Clean-up operations are going on on a number of islands of Novaya Zemlya archipelago, the islands of Kotelny and Wrangle. Around ten clean-up brigades have been dismantling shabby houses and constructions to be followed by land reclamation there, Bulgakov said. The ministry's servicemen have been also removing scrap metal, including metallic containers for liquid substances, pending their shipment away from the Arctic territory by auxiliary ships of the Russian Navy, he said.