Russian Geographical Society News

The nuclear icebreaker Lenin, the pride and joy of the Soviet Union's Arctic great game, lies at perpetual anchor in the frigid water here. A relic of the Cold War, it is now a museum. But nearly three decades after the Lenin was taken out of service to be turned into a visitor attraction, Russia is again on the march in the Arctic and building new nuclear icebreakers. It is part of a push to firm Moscow's hand in the High North as it vies for dominance with traditional rivals Canada, the United States, and Norway as well as newcomer China.

The Russian National Committee for UNEP (UNEPCOM) endorsed the initiative of Rosneft and the Russian Geographical Society to elaborate interdisciplinary scientific program for comprehensive Arctic research. This program will help to set out the principles of special economic activity regulations in the region, including clear ecological rules of shelf development. First this initiative was announced during the roundtable called "The scientific exploration of the Arctic" on July 21, 2014, held at the Arctic Research and Design center Centre. Leading experts studying the polar areas take part in creating the program. Those scientists made significant contributions to the development of such sciences as oceanography…

Member of the Rosneft Board of Directors, RF President's Special Envoy for International Cooperation Representative in the Arctic and Antarctic Artur Chilingarov took part in a meeting of the Arctic Council member states, observer states and representatives of scientific community under the aegis of the Russian Security Council in the city of Naryan-Mar. The meeting participants discussed relevant problems of sustainable development and organization of safety on polar territories. Chilingarov announced that Rosneft and the Russian Geographical Society have started elaboration of a complex program on Arctic scientific development and are planning to engage leading Russian specialists to participate in the initiative.