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Yakutia sets up nature reserve to protect polar bear population

A relevant document will be inked in late 2020 - early 2021, according to the regional government’s press service

YAKUTSK, June 19. /TASS/. An official document to set up the Medvezhyi Islands nature reserve in Yakutia to protect the polar bear population is due in late 2020 - early 2021, the regional government’s press service said on Friday.

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The Medvezhyi Islands, or the Bear Islands, is an uninhabited group of islands at the western end of the Kolyma Gulf in the East Siberian Sea.

"A document on establishing the nature reserve will be inked in late 2020 - early 2021," the press service said. "All design works have been complete. The islands will include the infrastructure to monitor the bears’ migration. The project will offer new jobs."

The group of Bear Islands (the Krestovsky, Andreyev, Pushkaryov, Leontyev, Lysov and Chetyrokhstolbovoi) is some 130km north of the Kolyma River’s estuary. The distance to the nearest mainland is 35-90 km.

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