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361376
Thu, 03/26/2015 - 09:45
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Two drifting stations to be deployed in Arctic this year

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Two drifting stations will be deployed in the Arctic this year - one for scientists and the second - for the military, the Expeditionary Centre of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) told TASS on Wednesday. "In 2015, the RGS Expeditionary Centre again received a proposal to deploy two life support platforms in the North Pole area. One of them is the North Pole-2015 seasonal drifting research station. Depending on the ice situation during this season, it will operate during a period from 3 to 6 months. The second platform will be deployed for the Kupol (Dome) ice base, which will host the Victory 2015 international activities of the Defence Ministry dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War (of Russia against Nazi Germany in 1941-45) and the 85th anniversary of the Airborne Troops formation," RGS said. The Arctic-2015 expedition was launched on March 18 when two Mil Mi-8 helicopters flew to the North Pole in search of a suitable ice floe for the deployment of the two camps. On Wednesday, a military transport plane of the Russian Air Force delivered the first batch of cargoes to the North Pole-2015 station and made the first landing of eight polar researchers. The Expeditionary Centre said that the seasonal drifting station Barneo has been working in the Arctic during 14 seasons. Its main customers were travel companies, operating in the Arctic. "Last season, the Defence Ministry already conducted its activities on the Barneo station, drilling survival of troops in the Arctic conditions. In contrast to last year’s exercise, this season’s manoeuvres are expected to be conducted at the Kupol base to drill the deployment of mobile camps for rescue missions for distressed ships and aircraft on the Northern Sea Route and transpolar routes. To date, nobody in the word conducts such rescue operations," RGS said. According to RGS, the Barneo project is not closed - "it will be continued in the future with all the interested agencies." "This season our team will have other tasks. Previously, mainly tourists lived on the drifting platform in the North Pole area, and this year the base will be chiefly used by scientists," the Expeditionary Centre said. Russian president’s special representative for international Arctic and Antarctic cooperation Artur Chilingarov said previously that the opening of the North Pole-2015 drifting station in the Arctic Ocean was scheduled for April 18. Read more

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