Russia to rebuild Arctic stations

Russia will rebuild Soviet-era Arctic monitoring stations in the Arctic, Canada’s Globe and Mail reports. The monitoring stations can be used for everything from monitoring meteorological conditions to serving as bases for research. At the height of the USSR, there were approximately 100 Arctic stations, but now, there are only 12.

Decline of Marine Observation Stations from 1980s to 2000s.

Speaking about Russia’s plans to use the new bases to further Russia’s geological research to back up its territorial claims, Arthur Chilingarov, the Kremlin-designated Arctic spokesman, announced, “Russia won’t leave the Arctic, we will build up our economic and scientific presence in the region… I’m confident that our claim is fully legitimate.”

The country is also amping up construction of its nuclear icebreaker fleet, which is unique in the world. Russia invented the nuclear icebreaker during the 1950s for navigation and the transportation of goods in the frozen Arctic Sea. Last June, Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation, and the region of Murmansk, which is home to the icebreaker service base at Atomflot, signed an agreement to construct a new type of nuclear icebreaker. This will constitute the fourth generation, and it will debut in 2015.