Russian Defense Ministry environmental cleanup units have completed over 90 percent of their 2017 environmental cleanup plan to remove scrap metal from the Arctic, RIA Novosti reports, citing Deputy Defense Minister Army General Dmitry Bulgakov.

"The units collected over 3,900 tons of scrap metal. On Kotelny Island we collected 14,800 metal barrels with total weight of about 600 tons, which is 100 percent of our cleanup plan. Northern Fleet units are now compacting the barrels. This year the environmental cleanup units are to collect over 4,400 tons of scrap metal," Bulgakov said.

Auxiliary fleet ships and private transport ships that operate in the north have delivered over 2,300 tons of scrap metal to the mainland, he added. This year's plan is to deliver over 3,700 tons of scrap metal to the mainland.

Apart from collecting scrap metal, environmental cleanup units continue to demolish dilapidated and collapsed structures and reclaim land in the territories controlled by the Defense Ministry, Bulgakov said. In 2017 the cleanup of military bases, posts and training grounds in the Russian Arctic is taking place on the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago (in the Belushya Guba, Rogachyovo and Severny villages), the New Siberian Islands (Kotelny and Kildin islands) and several other locations. This year, 186 service personnel are involved in environmental cleanup in the Arctic, as well as dozens of special machines and vehicles, and auxiliary fleet ships.