Environmental safety unit to assess pollution in Somnitelnaya Bay
© RIA Novosti. Ramil Sitdikov

Environmental safety unit to assess pollution in Somnitelnaya Bay

An environmental safety detachment from the Eastern Military District will assess the scope of work needed for cleaning by Somnitelnaya Bay on Wrangel Island, the district's press service said in a statement.

"Representatives of the Eastern Military District's environmental safety unit plan to arrange a reconnaissance mission to Somnitelnaya Bay in order to assess the scope of work needed for cleaning up the area from scrap metal. The clean-up operation is expected to begin in 2018," the statement went on to say.

The environmental safety detachment is currently cleaning up the village of Ushakovskoye, also on Wrangel Island, from scrap metal. The service personnel have collected, pressed and delivered for loading more than 3,600 empty barrels amounting to 106 tons of metal. Some 600 tons of scrap metal are expected to be collected and shipped to the mainland by October.

Eastern Military District air space protection units have been deployed to Wrangel Island since October 2014.