Russia's Arctic-themed pavilion at the EXPO 2017 international exhibition taking place in Astana was opened on June 10.

"We will uncover the key theme of EXPO 2017, Energy of the Future, by using the example of the unique Russian region, Russia's Arctic. It is this region which is considered to have the highest potential as an alternative energy source for Russia," TASS reports General Commissar of the pavilion Georgy Kalamanov as saying at the opening ceremony.

Several of the pavilion's rooms, all differently designed, are united by one idea, the development of energy. The accent is made on boosting the nuclear icebreaker fleet and the Northern Sea Route. One of the rooms looks like a small Arctic port town with an ice-class vessel sailing toward the port and trans-loading terminals and several residential buildings can be seen on the shore.  

According to RIA Novosti, on June 10 Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the pavilion. He was told about the water installation "Energy of the Arctic" which recreates the Northern Sea Route and features scale-models of new-generation nuclear powered icebreakers, including the flagship of the Russian nuclear fleet. The atmosphere of the Arctic Region in the room is imitated by the settings which glitter just like Arctic ice, special effects of the Northern Lights, and other techniques.

According to TASS, a fragment of an iceberg is placed in one of the pavilion's rooms. As noted by Kalamanov, the pavilion provides special conditions to preserve the fragment during the  summer. The red ribbon at  the opening ceremony wasn't cut but broken. This happened after liquid nitrogen had been poured over it to make it harder to break.