Russians rehabilitate their Spitsbergen stations

The Dalniye Zelentsy research ship and aeroplanes have brought workers and building materials to rehabilitate Russian research stations to the Spitsbergen archipelago, the RIA Novosti correspondent quotes the Murmansk Marine Biology Institute as saying on Friday.

Russia has several biological, geophysical and meteorological research stations in Spitsbergen. Work on them was cut back in 1992 to 1994 for lack of funds.

Fifteen million roubles, or ten times more than a year before, has been allocated in 2002 for resumption of Spitsbergen programmes of scientific work.

Part of sums will go to repair and restore abandoned structures. Novel equipment has been bought and the programme of summer expeditions of biologists, oceanographers, geophysicists and hydrometeorologists in the archipelago has been greatly enlarged.