A comprehensive expedition to the North Pole, organized by the Russian Defense Ministry's Expedition Center, has ended in the Arctic, reports the Ministry's Department of Information and Mass Communications.

"The expedition's main objectives included a number of research projects and the creation of a program to train instructors for Arctic units," the department said in a statement. The ship's crew and researchers included service personnel from the Russian Defense Ministry's Military Institute of Physical Fitness.

While reaching for the North Pole, the Institute's cadets learned how to set up a field camp, how to keep warm and eat en route and how to find their bearings using navigation systems, the Sun and in zero visibility.

Cadets who have learned how to survive at the North Pole will eventually train other service personnel for working in Russia's extreme north.

The expedition lasted seven days and six "white" nights. The ship covered over 100 kilometers instead of the planned 85 kilometers due to ice drifting from the north to the south, thus increasing the distance between the ship and the North Pole by five kilometers each day.

The Russian Defense Ministry's Expedition Center, established on June 23, 2016 by a decision of the Russian Defense Minister, focuses on organizing, holding and supporting military-research and military-patriotic expeditions. This helps expand academic knowledge and boost Russia's security, and locate and preserve military-technical history and fortification landmarks and preserve the objective memory of Russia's military history.