About 1.6 billion rubles will be allocated in 2016 to finish the clean-up operation on Franz Josef Land in the Arctic, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Sergei Donskoi said, RIA Novosti reported.

"We will allocate 1.6 billion rubles to finish the work on a number of islands," he said.

An environmental clean-up campaign was launched in the Russian Arctic in 2012. Tens of thousands of barrels [of trash], over 5,000 tons of heating oil, diesel fuel and kerosene have since been removed from the region.