Russia's nuclear-powered icebreaker Rossiya has successfully completed its Arctic expedition by returning to the northern port of Murmansk, RIA Novosti correspondent reported.
The expedition, led by the president's envoy to the Arctic and Antarctic, Artur Chilingarov, delivered a drifting research station onto an ice floe to carry out a study on the Arctic's water area and climate conditions.
RIA Novosti correspondent Alexander Stelliferovsky took part in the expedition.
Russia and other countries with an Arctic coastline are laying claims to the region's sea floor, said to contain one quarter of the world's mineral resources. The untapped riches are becoming more accessible due to melting ice.
The vast hydrocarbon deposits that will become more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice have brought the Arctic to the center of geopolitical wrangling between Russia and the other nations that border the region.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that the Arctic would not become a battleground as potential territory disputes could be resolved through negotiation.
ROSSIYA ICEBREAKER, October 24 (RIA Novosti)
