Over 180 servicemen selected to clean up the Arctic this year
© RIA Novosti. Ramil Sitdikov

Over 180 servicemen selected to clean up the Arctic this year

More than 180 servicemen from the Northern Fleet, the Central and Eastern military districts, and the 12th Main Directorate of the Defense Ministry have been selected to join the environmental cleanup effort in the Arctic in 2017, Deputy Defense Minister Army General Dmitry Bulgakov told RIA Novosti.

"The units that will work to clean up past environmental damage are based on a provisional manpower table; there will be a total of 186 officers and men. The workforce distribution will depend on the location of the facilities, the length of daylight hours, and the amount of work to be done," he said.

"The men are undergoing training and are learning the security precautions needed for working on Defense Ministry land in the Arctic, including how to operate metal cutting, torching and pressing equipment and to reconnoiter terrain," Gen. Bulgakov said.

This year's cleanup will include military units, garrisons and testing grounds on Novaya Zemlya Archipelago (the villages of Belushya Guba, Rogachyovo, and Severny), the New Siberian Islands (Kotelny and Kildin islands) and other areas. The units are expected to collect more than 3,900 tons of scrap.

This year's cleanup will include the demolition of dilapidated and run-down buildings, land reclamation in areas to be cleaned up in 2017 by the Defense Ministry, and the transportation of scrap metal to the mainland for further processing. The cleanup will be fully accomplished before 2020, Gen. Bulgakov said.